During 2014, SNCF noted a 1.11% revenue improvement to its Transport & Logistics division, which produced an annual total of €9,141m. Suntracting inter-segment revenues, the company grew by 0.9% to €8,891m.

The revenue improvement was caused by growth in the division's subsidiaries during the year. Principally, growth originated from SNCF Geodis, which grew its revenue from several contract wins in freight forwarding and logistics during the year, in addition to the expansion of its network. 2013

In 2013 SNCF Geodis’ revenue declined to €9.14bn, a fall of 2.9% compared to 2012. This decline was partly the result of a group structure impact of €16m and a negative foreign exchange impact of €116m. However, even on a constant group structure and exchange rate basis, revenue declined by 1.8%. The decrease mainly concerns; Geodis’ parcel delivery division which saw its revenues shrink by 6.2%, the 4.8% fall in revenue from Fret SNCF and STVA’s result, which saw revenues decline by 9.0%. These declines were recorded in spite of a number of new contract wins.

In contrast the division’s operating profit rose by €111m but remained a loss of €118m. The improvement in operating profit was largely the result of more profitable contract wins. The company’s operating margin was -1.29%.

Note: From 2014, Geodis' brands (Geodis Calberson, Geodis Logistics, Geodis BM, Geodis Wilson, and Geodis Global Supply Chain Optimization)have all been folded under 'Geodis', with each representing a separate business line of the company; for example, Geodis Wilson is now reported as the 'freight forwarding' segment of Geodis, rather than as a stand-alone unit.

For 2014, SNCF reported a total revenues of €27,243m, a figure which marked a year on year fall of 15.48%. However, adjusting for the reclassification of SNCF Infra (now held for disposal), the company actually grew its total revenues by 0.79%.

This underlying growth was driven by SNCF Proximites, the company's local transport division, which improved its revenue by €402m (3.5%). In addition, the logistics division was up by €83m (0.9%), and the Gares & Connexions division noted a 4.8% improvement, though in the latter case, this was an increase of only €13m.

Moreover, group operating profit was up by 4.3% year on year, amounting to €1,043m. This is chiefly due to the change in impairment losses experienced by the company's rail freight production resources.2013

SNCF Group reported revenue of €32.2bn in 2013, a 0.5% increase from 2012's result. The group as a whole turned in a full-year EBITDA of €2.8bn and operating profit of €1bn, producing an operating profit margin of 3.1%. This reflected successful cost control and the positive impact of France's new CICE tax credit.

Full-year figures showed a moderate 1.1% rise in rail business at the SNCF Proximités division, a 1.4% decline for the SNCF Voyages division, with traffic down by 0.7% due to the economic crisis, and a 1.8% decline for the SNCF Geodis division, reflecting an outright recession in freight transport.

SNCF Group achieved structural savings of over €225m at the parent company, thus exceeding the target set in its cross-functional performance plan.

After a €1.4bn write-down of TGV trainsets, net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent company was restricted to a loss of €180m thanks to €582m in recurring net profit and reversal of the impairment of assets at the SNCF Infra division in an amount of €546m.

Capital investment reached a record high of over €2.2bn, fully covered by self-financing capacity.

Free cash flow of €464m was positive for the third year running and net debt stabilised at under €7.5bn.

Note: From 2014, the SNCF Infra division is classified as "Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations", and is therefore subtracted from the group's overall financial performance.

Geodis reported revenue gains across all of its business segments apart from Supply Chain Optimisation, which declined by 14.18%, and Transportation of Vehicles, the revenue of which fell by 14.70%

The most significant increases came from Contract Logistics, at 14.42%, and Road, which rose by 6.18%.2011

Geodis reported revenue gains across all of its business segments apart from Freight Forwarding. The Groupage/Express and Full Truckload divisions contributed the majority of the increase in revenue, raising €262m out of the total €343m increase.

Note: For 2012 Full Truckload revenues were further split into two segments 'Road' and 'Transport of Finished Vehicles'.

Geodis Finances: Revenue by Business Segment % to Total 2006-2013 Archive [€]

SNCF Geodis, the freight transportation and logistics business of SNCF has revenues of €9,515m for 2012, an increase of 0.9% over the 2011 result, €9,427m.

Of all the different sectors within SNCF Geodis, only freight forwarding increased its revenues in 2012, up 7.6% year–on–year. Declines were reported in parcel deliveries (–3%), 4PL services (–4.8%), road haulage (–4.8%), logistics (–3.1%), rail freight (–7.7%) and STVA (–7.9%).

SNCF Geodis' EBITDA declined more markedly by 93% to €136m for 2012. However, the group stated that cost–cutting measures mitigated the impact of lower sales. The decline was particularly noted in the division's Global Freight Transport and Logistics businesses (Geodis and STVA) which fell by €74m. Excluding a €61m fine from the EU Competition Authority, which the group is contesting, rail freight services increased its EBITDA by €40m.

Geodis Total

Geodis reported that for 2012 its revenues were €7.1bn.

Geodis Calberson

The Groupage business of Geodis contributed €1,713m to the business' total revenues. This result was almost 5% lower than that reported in 2011.

Geodis Logistics

The Contract Logistics business of Geodis increased its revenues in 2012 by €11m over the 2011 result, to €1,047m.

Geodis Wilson

Geodis Wilson reported revenues of €2.6bn, a 9% increase over the 2011 result.

Geodis BM

Geodis reported that its Road business segment contributed €761m to its total revenues for the year.

Supply Chain Optimisation

For 2012, the Supply Chain Optimisation division of Geodis reported revenues of €952m, a 6% increase year over year.2011

SNCF Geodis Total

SNCF Geodis reported revenue of €9,427m, an increase of 6.0% or €538m.

At constant scope of consolidation and exchange rates (organic growth), revenue rose just 3.3% or €291m.

SNCF Geodis performed particularly well in the first half of 2011, recording a 6.3% rise in revenue, although this momentum stalled in the second half of the year as revenue went up by just 0.4% year on year.

Major structural changes in 2010 and 2011 increased revenue to the amount of €251m. In 2010, the acquisitions of Giraud, Ciblex, Ermewa, BSL SPA and other changes accounted for €126m, €53m, €35m, €20m and €3m respectively of the increase in 2011 revenue. In 2011, the acquisitions of One Source Logistics, Pharmalog and Ciblex business added revenue of €6m, €6m and €2m respectively. Exchange rate fluctuations decreased revenue by €4m.

International business represented 45% of SNCF Geodis' total revenue.

Operating profit increased by €73m. A rise in gross profit of €123m was partly offset by an increase in net provision movements of €63m. Organic gross profit growth of €40m was accrued by Geodis and STVA (Global Offerings), while Fret SNCF (Rail Freight) recorded organic profit growth of €68m, mainly due to cost control

Geodis Total

Revenue for the Geodis Group totalled €6,907m, a rise of 5.2%.

Geodis reported revenue gains across all of its business segments apart from Freight Forwarding. The Groupage/Express and Full Truckload divisions contributed the majority of the increase in revenue, raising €262m out of the total €343m increase.

Geodis Calberson

Groupage/Express revenue rose by 9.4% or €155m to €1,796m.

This business accounted for 26% of its parent's total revenue compared to 24% in 2010.

Geodis Logistics

Revenue amounted to €1,036m, a rise of 5.2% or €51m.

Geodis Wilson

Revenue accrued from freight forwarding operations was €2,347m, an fall of 0.7% or €16m.

Geodis BM

Geodis' Full Truckload/Road division generated revenue of €829m, a rise of 14.8% or €107m.

Supply Chain Optimisation

The Supply Chain Optimisation division generated revenue of €898m, an increase of 5.2% or €45m.

2010

SNCF Geodis Total

In March, Geodis reported that in 2010 it experienced a significant turnaround after the global economic crisis in 2009, when the group reported a decline in revenue and operating income. Its 2010 revenue reached €8,890m, a 20.5% increase on the previous year.

With the exception of Fret SNCF (-€180m), all the division's entities reported revenue growth, with Freight Forwarding perfoming particularly well with an increase of €454m (24.7%).

For the first time, in 2010 more than 50% of the Group's revenue was generated outside France.

Although operating profit improved by 178.9% the Group still a recorded an operating loss of -€327m.

The company said that the integration of the acquisitions made in 2009 and 2010 was proceeding to plan. These include IBM Global Logistics into the Group as a whole, Cooljet and Ciblex into the Groupage & Express Division, Giraud into the Road Division, Sealogis and STSI into the Freight Forwarding Division, and Chevallier and Bertola into the Contract Logistics Division.

All the divisions contributed to revenue growth, especially the Freight Forwarding Division, which accounts for more than one-third of Group revenue and which posted growth of 50.4%. That increase can be attributed to higher freight prices and a recovery in volumes of air freight (+40%) and sea freight (+22%), especially between Asia and Europe.2009

SNCF Geodis Total

Revenue decreased by €649m compared to 2008 (-8.1%). On a constant Group structure basis, revenue declined by 16.7%, -19.5% for STVA, considering the automotive market and -21.5% for Fret SNCF.

The €649m decrease was primarily due to:

a decline in activity by €1,291m in all division segments:

€812m for Geodis, including €216m for the Parcel Delivery and Express division and €436m for the Freight Forwarding division;

the €120m decrease in Geodis' profit, the decline in business being partially offset by cost savings;

the €204m decline in Fret SNCF's profit, including €30m arising from the provision for the gradual cessation of activity and €37m from the non-recurring impact of the electricity price adjustment recognised in 2008 in respect of 2007;

At the end of January, Geodis gave an early indication as to the state of the European freight industry in 2007 and prospects for 2008.

Headline revenue for the full year 2007 was up 26.4%, including its acquisition of Wilson from TNT, and 5.4% on a like-for-like basis. Management commented that the group's performance was lifted by a very strong third quarter and sustained growth in the fourth quarter. All business divisions contributed to the increase.

Geodis' groupage revenue (37% of the total) rose 5.3% compared with the previous year. Its French home market revenue experienced a 7.2% rise at €1,426m. Volumes continued to grow in the second half, while price rises, mainly from passing on higher diesel costs, also contributed to the increase.

The group's Euromatic division and groupage businesses in other European countries contributed €360.1m to consolidated revenue, down 5.2% compared with 2006. The decline was mainly due to the discontinuation of loss-making operations in Germany and a December strike by Italian road hauliers.

The freight forwarding division, including Wilson from February 2007, reported a doubling of revenue, helped by like-for-like growth of 10.3%. Asia saw revenue grow 32% like-for-like to €441m, whilst in southern Europe the division generated revenue of €663.9m, an increase of 8.7% like-for-like. Management stated that it considered the operational integration of Wilson now complete.

Contract logistics revenue for 2007 rose 4.4% on a reported basis and 4.1% like-for-like. The rapid expansion of automotive logistics business and the start-up of new contracts in the second half helped to lift revenue for the year to €832.7m.

The results are a good sign for other European logistics operators in Geodis' peer group such as DSV, Schenker and DHL. They show that there is as yet very little sign of a consumer-driven slowdown. Geodis' comments about a solid fourth quarter offer encouragement that fears of a European recession on the back of US economic weakness are possibly being over-played.

Revenue by Geographic Region % to Total

Performances were very uneven across the division in terms of both growth and profitability.

Whereas Groupage in Europe saw revenue decline in 2007, Groupage in France continued to enjoy sustained revenue growth of 7.3%, mainly due to:

further growth in volumes, particularly in the first half of the year

the full-year impact of new contracts, especially the FedEx contract

price adjustments in France following the sharp increase in diesel prices and the cost impact of adapting the Express transport plan to new speed limits applicable to the types of vehicle used.

Owing to these effects, Groupage in France generated revenue of €1,426m, up €96.9m from the previous year. Profit from ordinary activities in France, corresponding to the Calberson network and France Express, stood at €61.0m, representing an operating margin of 4.3%. The 2007 figure was stable with respect to the €60.9m reported in 2006. Operating margin was down compared to 2006 due to new contracts start-up costs and the cost impact of adjusting the transport plan to new speed limits.

In a continuation of the previous year's trend, Groupage in Europe reported a profit from ordinary activities loss of €20.6m for revenue of €286.1m compared with a loss of €17.8m for revenue of €288.9m in 2006.

In Spain, the loss amounted to €9.7m for revenue of €78.6m. Local managers were replaced during the first half of the year and a restructuring plan was implemented in the second half. Most of the major operational difficulties concerned the Barcelona branch.

In Italy, revenue was down by 3.4% due to the impact of the Italian transport workers' nationwide strike in December. Despite the strike, a less pronounced loss of €4.6m was reported in 2007, versus €6.0m in 2006.

In Germany, the Groupage business was terminated on 31 December 2007 after generating a €2.6m loss in 2006 and a €2.9m loss in 2007 for revenue of €8.2m.

While the Euromatic specialised distribution network saw a bigger €5.7m loss in 2007 (€3.4m in 2006), the business seemed to be on the way to recovery, with a smaller loss reported in the second half than in the first.

Revenue by Business Segment % to Total

Contract Logistics

The Contract Logistics division reported revenue of €832.7m, an increase of 4.4% or €35.1m over 2006, including like-for-like growth of 4.1%.

The termination of loss-making contracts in 2006 and the decrease in business with IBM were offset by new contract launches in France and Benelux as well as by geographical and business expansion affecting respectively the countries of Eastern Europe and the automotive and reverse logistics sectors.

The decrease was mainly attributable to Spain and the IBM contract's reduced revenue contribution, with the majority of the other countries and regions reporting an improvement.

In Germany, revenue came in at €94.9m for 2007 versus €92.8m for 2006, up 2.3%. The termination of a loss-making contract with Thomson in 2006 adversely affected revenue but had a positive impact on the profitability of operations.

In Eastern Europe and Greece, revenue continued to rise in 2007 to total €118.3m versus €109.1m in 2006, representing a full-year increase of 8.4%. The region's robust performance limited the impact of losses and major contract terminations in Romania and Russia recognised in 2006 and in first quarter 2007. Growth accelerated over the year to reach 14.9% in the fourth quarter.

Profit from ordinary activities in Eastern Europe came to €3.3m in 2007 versus €1.5m in 2006 due to the termination of a loss-making contract in Russia in the second half of 2006, the turnaround of contracts in Hungary and continued growth in the automotive sector.

Revenue for the Logistics business in Benelux reached €86.4m in 2007 versus €75.8 m in 2006, signalling a return to growth. The business saw increased volumes with major clients such as Lexmark and IBM, in particular, as well as the launch of a new contract with Moët-Hennessy in Belgium. Together, these developments offset the loss on the Dell contract in 2006.

In the United Kingdom, revenue stood at €46.6m, down €13.5m from 2006 due to the combined effect of the termination of a Dell contract in first-half 2006 and lower PC distribution volumes in Europe for IBM/Lenovo. The United Kingdom reported profit from ordinary activities of €3.2m in 2007 versus €4.8m in 2006.

In Ireland, revenue climbed 1.4% to €48.6m from €47.9m in 2006. Profit from ordinary activities stood at €3.6m in 2007 versus €2.8m in 2006.

Freight Forwarding

The Freight Forwarding division, including Wilson from February 2007, reported revenue of €1,690.1m in 2007 versus €807.0m in 2006, up 109.4%, including like-for-like growth of 10.3%.

The Air Freight and Sea Freight Forwarding businesses made relatively equal contributions to Geodis Wilson's revenue, representing 37% and 43% of the total, respectively. Industrial Projects accounted for slightly more than €200m of billings, representing roughly 12% of the division's total revenue.

In the area of industrial projects, volumes handled for Exxon decreased, as the long-term contract launched with that customer five years ago reached a maturity phase.

Profit from ordinary activities came to €46.8m (€17.5m in 2006), representing 2.8% of the division's revenue. This sharp increase was attributable to the following developments:

the consolidation of Wilson over the eleven months from 5 February 2007 gave a material boost to Group operating profit.

the initial impact of synergies arising on the new networks creation added roughly €3m to operating profit.

The 10% like-for-like increase in revenue and the elimination of loss-making facilities in Asia raised the operating profit level of Geodis' Asian subsidiaries.

However, industrial projects, including the Exxon contract in particular, made a lesser contribution than in 2006.

Road Transport

The Full Truckload (Road) division generated revenue of €584.7m, up 1.2% from €578.0m in 2006.

The division includes the road transport activities of Geodis Bourgey Montreuil in France and of the latter's subsidiaries in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Eastern Europe.

Revenue was virtually unchanged in like-for-like terms, up 0.2% from 2006, as it was impacted by the termination of a retailing contract at the end of first-quarter 2007. Growth accelerated however in the second half of the year with the launch of new contracts, in particular with Nestlé Waters.

Profit from ordinary activities rose to €9m in 2007 from €5m in 2006.2006

Geodis Total

In March 2007 Geodis published its annual results showing a big recovery in both profits and revenue growth. Revenue increased 5.3% over the year to €3.8bn, but operating profits increased 24.6% to €106.4m whilst net income increased by a third to €48.4m.

Cost cutting played a substantial part in the increased profitability of the company, with the previously loss-making business in Italy breaking even. In positive terms, Geodis' growth businesses were its transport activities - LTL, Express and Freight Forwarding.

The tough French road transport market was delivering growth, whilst Geodis Express activities were being helped by its new relationship with FedEx. Geodis was also experiencing growth outside Europe, particularly through its Freight Forwarding business, although the exposure to East Asia should not be exaggerated as it accounts for only €200m of revenue.

Contract logistics appeared to be doing less well with falls in revenue over the year and the company stating that both the core high tech and automotive sectors were doing poorly.

In announcing this year's results, Geodis' management restated a target of 40% growth in revenue by 2007 and a profit margin target of 4%. The revenue target will be helped by its purchase of TNT's Freight Forwarding operations in the last quarter of 2006, not included in these results.

With the acquisition Geodis became one of the world's top ten Freight Forwarders with combined revenues of €1.6bn. However what this will do for return on capital is unclear as Geodis paid a generous €460m to buy TNT's Freight Forwarding operations .

The company does suffer from a lack of differentiation and lacks global presence compared to its bigger German rivals. Normally this might lead Geodis to be vulnerable to takeover - possibly from a group as openly acquisitive as Deutsche Bahn or even from a Private Equity group which could inject capital in order to expand through acquisition but this was unlikely to happen.

Geodis was still part owned by SNCF, the French state owned railway company and although SNCF may well be willing to sell its 44% stake in part or in its entirety, any buyer would have to be approved at the political level. The government has in the past opposed the sale of French businesses to acquisitive foreign rivals, majorly reducing the number of companies which could be interested.

The consolidated financial statements of June 30th 2007 will include five months of TFM results.

Geodis Wilson's revenue rose by 0.58% to €2.58bn.2012Geodis Wilson reported revenues of €2.6bn, a 9% increase over the 2011 result.Note: 2012 revenue for Geodis Wilson of €2,640m was restated following publication to €2,569m.

Geodis Wilson is the freight forwarding division of Geodis. It has an integrated network spanning 250 offices in over 61 countries and 9,000 employees. Its offering includes air and sea freight forwarding, management of major industrial projects and customs solutions. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

It manages and oversees a range of freight forwarding operations for air, sea and sea-air freight, combined with track and trace tools and value-added services.

Air freight forwarding services are carried out through a network of carriers that allow it to offer three air services of differing speeds; AirFast, AirFlex, AirSave. The company conducts terminal handling of air cargo internally. Geodis Wilson is also a member IATA Cargo 2000, a quality management system for the worldwide air cargo industry.

Sea freight services are offered through its network of 250 offices and extend to both LCL and FCL freight. Panalpina also integrates these capabilities with its other services to provide intermodal freight forwarding solutions.

Its integrated solutions are tailored to the specific needs of shippers in the following sectors: pharmaceutical, consumer and retail goods, high-tech, aviation, automotive and oil & gas.

Geodis Wilson also provides eSolutions including track and trace capabilities, online booking of freight transportation, an order management system and a customer specific portal. All of these services are provided through Geodis Wilson's software and are accessible on the company's website.

Geodis Wilson also provides turnkey solutions for international projects and industrial projects (installation of offshore pipelines, relocation of industrial plants, out-of-gauge transport and more). It also provides consultancy services and full management of global flows for companies of all sizes.

Founded in 1950, Groupe STVA is a French company specialised in finished vehicle logistics in Europe.

The company is majority owned by SNCF and is categorised as part of the SNCF's transport and logistics division, SNCF Geodis.

Along with Geodis, it is the only company classed as a part of SNCF Geodis' Global Offerings segment.

It has a strong presence among automobile manufacturers and renters throughout Europe and transports approximately 6m vehicles a year.

It has 3,200 rail wagons and 800 trucks and has around 2,400 employees. Its own rail fleet is complemented by a network of alliances in Belgium, Spain, Germany, Poland and Italy with finished vehicle logistics companies.

As part of its finished vehicle logistics operations STVA operates transit and storage facilities at 44 locations covering 530 ha. STVA claims these facilities have the capacity to store more 300,000 vehicles.

STVA also manages port terminals at Bremen, Germany; Gdynia, Poland; and Tangier, Morocco. It is also present in Barcelona, Spain through Setram.

The company also has a 70,000 sq m network of depots and PDI facilities located across Europe.

Geodis Calberson has a network of 300 sites covering 25 countries in Europe, and employs approximately 11,200 staff. It offers a range of services including; groupage, express, parcels, part and full loads and specialist distribution. These services rely on four distinct networks:

Geodis Calberson - groupage

France Express - domestic express transport

Geodis Euromatic - specialist distribution Parcel network - with the acquisition of Ciblex, this service meets the needs of e-commerce, as well as the sectors of health products, optics, advanced technology and spare parts.

The Groupage division offers France wide services through three different but indistinct networks from 140 branches across France:

messagerieplus: Provides next day or two day delivery of single/multi-package consignments in France up to 1 tonne. The service also has the capability to manage returns and has full visibility.

Top 24: Provides same day delivery in France for groupage consignments of up to 1 tonne.

Pack 30: Next day or two day delivery of packages up to 30kg across France.

The division also offers Europe wide services with two networks that extend from the 140 French sites to group-owned locations in the UK, Benelux and Italy.

eurofirst: Provides a groupage service covering 35 European countries for packages up to 1.5 tonnes. The service aims to deliver within 24 and 72 hour windows.

eurotop: Provides a door-to-door groupage service delivering to Rome and other main business areas in Italy within 48 hours through a partnership with the Italian Logistics provider AF Logistics.

The Groupage division includes all the Geodis Group's French subsidiaries operating in the Groupage and Express transport businesses and the Groupage & Distribution businesses in Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany.

Geodis Calberson also offers Express services to addresses in France through calexpress, to pick up points in france through Top Relais, to 660 branches in 21 European countries through NetExpress Europe and for consignments of under 70kg to the rest of the world through Fly Express.

In addition the division provides FTL and LTL shipments from its European branches through eurodirect. The company also offers palletized services through Résopal, a Europe wide pallet network.

The division also offers freight management services across its networks to facilitate the transit of its consignments.

Geodis Calberson Overview

Shipments per year

55m (150m packages)

Vehicles

5,000

Employees

11,200

Source: Geodis

Geodis Bernis

Geodis Bernis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Geodis Calberson. It operates groupage, mail & express and other value added logistics services. The company employs approximately 900 people at nine sites which comprise 62,000 sq m of warehousing space.

With SNCF Geodis' acquisition of Giraud in 2010, it was integrated into Geodis BM's network. The addition of Giraud gave Geodis BM a presence in Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. It also extended Geodis BM's existing networks in France, Italy and Germany.

Fret SNCF operates a two-tiered rail structure: trunk routes and local zone units. The purpose of 'trunk routes' is to industrialise production flow over long distances.

Four trunk routes have progressively been developed:

an Antwerp/Basel route, linking Belgium, Switzerland and Italy

a North-East/Savoy route between Benelux countries and Italy, and between Italy and Great Britain

a South-East route linking Benelux, Germany and Spain

an Atlantic route linking Great Britain to Spain, and the Benelux countries to Spain.

SNCF Freight operates two hubs in France which concentrate the traffic flow, grouping trains coming from different yards, and sending them to destination yards, the PNIF (Paris Hub) and the PNEU (European Hub).

Geodis Wilson announced the expansion of its global network of operating hubs dedicated to the oil and gas sector. In addition to existing hubs in Houston, US, and Vitrolles in France, the company opened a third hub in Singapore. Two more, in Antwerp, Belgium, and Dubai, UAE, were expected to be completed by the end of 2014 and a further two were planned for 2015 in China and South Africa.

The company stated that the development was in line with the strategic growth plan in its Industrial Projects division for the burgeoning oil and gas sector. Under the plan it expected to increase freight volumes by 50% within a year after opening the new hubs.

From its headquarters and primary oil and gas hub in Houston the company has developed its network of operational centres across the globe. The hub in Singapore was strategically located to service the oil and gas clusters in South East Asia. The North African region is served through its Vitrolles hub in the south of France. The centre in Antwerp was set to serve North Sea activities, Eastern Europe and Africa, while Dubai was to become Geodis Wilson’s oil and gas hub for the Middle East and South Asia.September - European Healthcare Distribution Holding (EHDH), principal shareholder of Eurotranspharma, a provider of pharmaceutical and healthcare product transport solutions, announced that it had completed the acquisition of the CIBLEX express delivery network from Geodis.

EHDH and CIBLEX built an industrial development plan designed to bolster their respective service offerings in their dedicated markets. EHDH intended to further develop the CIBLEX network to deal with the demands of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry while retaining its express capability.

Under the plan the CIBLEX network continued to handle ambient temperature parcels under 30 kg. But in addition Eurotranspharma was to use it to handle all healthcare products over 30 kg as well as all temperature controlled deliveries. The companies claimed that this would create a multipurpose but specialised network.

July - Geodis announced that it had signed an agreement with AF Logistics, a subsidiary of the Italian logistics company Ferrari, for the disposal of Züst Ambrosetti, Geodis´ Italian groupage express subsidiary, and the formation of a partnership between the two groups.

Under the agreement, AF Logistics took over all the employees and of the operating sites of Züst Ambrosetti and maintained the company´s brand. In addition, Züst Ambrosetti was, as part of the Ferrari Group, Geodis´ partner in Italy for groupage and express. Züst Ambrosetti was also to continue to handle current transport from and to Geodis Logistics´ warehouses in Italy.

The disposal was part of Geodis´ strategic decision to strengthen the group´s groupage and express network in France and develop its business in Europe through partnerships. Through the agreement, Geodis would continue to guarantee its customers a service for their groupage needs in Italy.

While Geodis was withdrawing from direct involvement in groupage and express operations in Italy, the company would continue to develop its Italian freight forwarding, contract logistics and road freight activities through its Geodis Wilson, Geodis Logistics and Geodis BM divisions.

May - Geodis Wilson announced that it had formed a joint venture partnership with the regional warehousing and distribution company Banz Group in Bahrain. The joint venture was to be based in Juffair, Bahrain, with administrative operations for contract logistics run from an 8,000 sq m warehouse facility. The warehouse included ambient, chilled and frozen storage space.

The Middle East Cluster Managing Director for Geodis Wilson said, “We are offering a full menu of freight services, including air, sea, road, sea–air and project forwarding. Geodis Wilson is also well–known for its provision of contract logistics and the Bahrain operation will deliver a wide range of services in this category; inbound and outbound logistics, customs clearance, cargo insurance, reverse logistics and other value–added services.”

“Servicing our customers where they grow is part of our dynamic business strategy,” said the Executive Vice President of Geodis Wilson. “This means increasing our footprint not only in the large and emerging economies, as we do in Brazil, India, China and also the US, but also in other dynamic regions, like the Middle East, where we already have a presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

September – Auchan chose Geodis for its consumer and non-food goods logistics and for its distribution in Hungary. To provide these services Geodis had two logistics platforms with a combined area of 70,000 sq m in Ullo, south of Budapest. These platforms worked round-the-clock to supply the 19 Auchan hypermarkets six days a week.

With this platform, Geodis was able to provide all the logistics services required for consumer and household goods. More than 160 employees managed incoming shipments, storage and order picking for more than 35,000 part numbers.

Every year, Geodis also oversaw the distribution of 20m parcels for the 19 Auchan stores in Hungary. For this task, the company used its own fleet of 125 vehicles, of which 80 were temperature controlled.

September - The Industrial Projects division of international freight forwarder Geodis Wilson secured a three-year contract with Caracal Energy Inc. an international player in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields.

Caracal Energy chose Geodis Wilson as its logistics partner for the exploration of a new resource field in Chad, the company’s primary market. The deal included global freight forwarding activities by air and sea, planning and execution of inland logistics, customs clearance, as well as rail and road transportation through Chad and Cameroon. The contract was worth €34m, with an option to extend for an additional years.

June – Geodis was selected for a three year contract to provide logistics services to LG Electronics in Italy, a manufacturer of consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances.

The services will be rendered at Castel San Giovanni, Italy, where Geodis Logistics owns a 250,000 sq m logistics park. This site, which is dedicated to upstream and downstream logistics for the main market sectors as automotive, fashion and consumer goods, will also handle LG Electronics activities over 144,000 sq m.

Geodis created for LG Electronics a service proposal which consists of different activities; warehousing, inbound, outbound and distribution through Geodis Züst Ambrosetti’s network to the final customer. These activities were to be combined with reverse logistics services that comprise return management, taking back appliances, repair, refurbishing and dismantling.

In addition, Geodis would implement quality control services for incoming products to Castel San Giovanni as well as it will also deal with activities related to labelling, checking, testing and repackaging. Furthermore, 120,000 outbound parcels per year for LG Electronics products were to be handled by Geodis for transport and delivery throughout Italy.June - Geodis Wilson announced the expansion of its Asia Pacific operations to include domestic rail freight services in China, with intercontinental services between China and Europe also planned.

It was considered a viable alternative to road transport because of its safe, efficient and environmentally friendly nature. Rail transport benefitted from strong political and social support in China, which made growth more certain in the near future. Rail Transportation offered the advantage of lower costs versus air freight over medium to long distance routes. It was also the only transport mode that offered an integrated transport network connecting seaports, hinterlands and economic zones over vast distances, and across political and geographic borders.

As part of a mixed rail, sea, air and road transportation solution, Geodis Wilson’s Chinese rail freight service offered customised, flexible, and reliable door-to-door services. Shipments of goods on container block trains as well as all pre- and post-rail transportation services were offered. These value-adds included, pickup, pre-carriage and on-carriage, reloading, control of transhipments, railway wagon planning, freight documentation and real time tracking and tracing.

Geodis Wilson was also set to launch services for 20 and 40 foot FCL and break bulk from China to Central Asia, Mongolia, Russia and Europe. This built on its already existing services to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia for a number of key customers including Dunlop Taikoo (Jinjiang) Aircraft Tyres Co., Ltd, Mindray Medical International Limited, TLD Asia Limited, Sino Energy (Beijing) Co., Ltd, Kashgar Tiandeli Industry Co., Ltd.May - Combiwest chose Naviland Cargo to handle terminal operations in Lyon, France, at the Vénissieux combined transport site for its Rennes-Lyon, Le Mans-Lyon and Château Gontier-Lyon lines.

“One year after the launch of our Rennes-Lyon service and the implementation of the Le Mans-Lyon line, we have placed our trust in the expertise of Naviland Cargo to further optimise our services for haulers,” said the Chairman of Combiwest.

In addition to this agreement, Combiwest will use the French rail links departing from Lyon to Fos and Marseille managed by Naviland Cargo. In turn, according to the needs of its customers, Naviland Cargo will use Combiwest’s service from and to Rennes and Le Mans. Naviland Cargo terminal access will enable connections with ports in the south of France without road transport.April - Geodis BM signed a three-year contract with Heineken to handle its logistics flows across France.

Geodis BM also managed the transport of 30% of Heineken goods to customers and between the brewer’s sites (Marseille in the south of France, Schiltigheim in the east of France and Mons-en-Baroeul in the north of France). In a further reflection of the enhanced working relationship between Geodis and Heineken, the contract included part of the logistics flows for France Boissons, a Heineken subsidiary.

This resource, developed by Geodis BM, connected all the players in the supply chain. It covered transport order dispatch, operational service providers, service monitoring, the management of delivery appointments and load capacities by the shipping sites (breweries and warehouses), the management of last-minute orders, and the management of quality reporting and the performance of each person involved. The result was precise monitoring, productivity gains and guaranteed optimal quality across the supply chain.

October - Fret SNCF announced that it had enhanced its multi-lots multi-clients, single wagon offer and extended it to international routes.

The extended service would connect beyond France's borders on the rail line connecting Woippy (France) and Antwerp (Belgium), ensuring an end-to-end service. From early 2013, Fret SNCF would also provide this end-to-end offer for all Franco-Swiss traffic carried by Fret SNCF and CFF, its historic partner in Switzerland.

The service possibilities in France were also extended. A direct link between Lyon and Mulhouse would be operational from the end of 2012, in addition to other domestic routes.

The overall expansion of the service would supplement the 23 existing links already offered. The increase in the number of destinations responded to the needs of manufacturers, particularly those in the chemical industry.July - Geodis Supply Chain Optimisation (GSCO) announced that it had obtained the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) certification. CIPS certification was recognised as a sign of excellence in purchasing and cost optimisation. GSCO stated it was the only 4PL operator to have fulfilled the approval criteria of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

To achieve the certification, GSCO had invested in improving the standardisation of its global subcontracting procedures in respect of ethical rules and sustainable development policies. CIPS spent a year examining GSCO's purchasing processes, particularly in supplier selection and calls for tender. Renewable every three years and audited annually by CIPS, the certification requires regular internal control.

Commenting the Chief Executive Officer of Geodis, said: "This ambitious certification policy has enabled us to compare our purchasing practices with the most stringent international rules and thereby reassert the complete independence of GSCO's purchasing policy within the Geodis group".May - Geodis Wilson announced it was expanding its trucking operations to include China, an extension of its existing routes through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Indochina region. The full cross–border route between Singapore and China covers a total distance of 5,950 km and has a lead–time of 6–7 days.

Customers would be able to choose between full container load (FCL) services, or less than container load (LCL) services. FCL containers would be sealed from door–to–door and opened only if required by border customs, while LCL containers would be consolidated at Geodis Wilson facilities along the route, and fed into the main road network by regional trucks.

"One distinctive element of our cross border trucking product is the range of security measures. They enable us to monitor and protect cargoes and help to ensure that our clients' goods can be delivered on time. This includes solid contingency mechanisms, for instance in case of severe weather, complex customs clearing or for accident prevention", said Geodis Wilson's Regional Director Cross–Border Trucking.

November - Geodis Wilson announced that it would open a distribution centre in Thailand which would be operational from the beginning of 2012.

The 96,900 sq ft facility is located in Sri Racha, 75 km from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, and 15 km from Laem Chabang Port.September - Geodis announced that, as of October 6, it would begin making deliveries for Carrefour in Lille using a hybrid refrigerated trailer truck. A new initiative in Geodis' Distripolis urban logistics system, this first-of-its-kind service would mean deliveries to the six Carrefour stores in the Lille city centre would be both cleaner and quieter.

In May 2010, Geodis teamed up with Renault Trucks to test a unique hybrid vehicle equipped with a cryogenic refrigeration unit. The vehicle was proposed to several customers for testing, and the retailer Carrefour was first to request the new vehicle. A perfect fit with Carrefour's sustainable development strategy, this 26-tonne hybrid truck that complied with the Euro 5 standard would begin delivering goods to Carrefour stores in Lille starting in October.

The thermal engine–electric motor combo in hybrid trucks lowered diesel consumption by an average of 20%. This represented an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 10 tonnes. The use of liquid nitrogen, a non-toxic substance that emitted no CO2, as the refrigeration fluid made this vehicle even more environmentally friendly. This vehicle also had separate transport compartments, so both fresh produce and dry goods could be delivered. In addition, the cooling unit lowered the temperature twice as fast, making the truck particularly useful for the transport of vegetables.July - Geodis Wilson announced it was opening an 8,500 sq m distribution centre in Jebel Ali South within the free zone of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The new distribution centre marked a strategic step in the company's global growth plan: extending its freight forwarding services to a full-service contract logistics model in the Middle East region.

"The demand for contract logistics is very high," said the Managing Director Geodis Wilson UAE. "Most companies trading via or in the Middle East need a hub solution for their business, and Dubai is undoubtedly the regional choice, with very good onward connections. Geodis Wilson runs its own freight network to cope with this demand, including trucking services between the various countries and a 24-hour on-line customs service."

Geodis Wilson invested about €1m into the Jebel Ali distribution centre, now providing a full range of supply chain solutions, including warehousing services, inventory, labelling, bar-coding, packing pouches, blisters, vendor management as well as domestic and cross border distribution.

New business included the handling of IBM hardware and spare parts for dispatch to other points in the Gulf region; including Abu Dhabi. For another global customer stationery and personal care products would be hubbed through the new centre, arriving from France in containers for storage and then distributed to 16 countries in the region including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Jordan and Syria.July - Geodis Wilson announced the launch of a new vertical business unit dedicated to serving the logistics needs of luxury hotels and resorts and their suppliers worldwide. Geodis Wilson would provide dedicated integrated logistics solutions to this fast-growing market.

"Geodis Wilson expects to become a single-source shipping solution for many of the top-tier companies in this market," said Geodis Wilson's global director Luxury Hotel & Resort Logistics. "These highly recognisable brands and their entire supplier base want a dedicated logistics partner. We created this new business unit to ensure they receive the white-glove services they expect and require."

Geodis Wilson's Luxury Hotel & Resort Logistics service would be operated by dedicated teams and project managers, regional competency centres and a global hotel logistics control tower, providing a variety of global and domestic freight services, including: freight consolidations, insurance, customs brokerage, warehouse services, FF&E installation, OS&C delivery, customised freight control management and dedicated consultation.June - Geodis Calberson expanded its services in the UK with the opening of a new logistics facility in Birmingham to handle inbound and outbound European cargo for its premium Eurotop and Eurofirst services.

The opening of the Birmingham international facility coincided with the launch of the company's new daily run to and from Italy that offered customers 72 hour door-to-door services for Eurotop and Eurofirst.

The new facility would handle all the company's import and export freight movements that were previously managed by Watford Gap.

The company said that Watford Gap would continue to handle the Fortec Distribution Network, the palletised side of Geodis Calberson's operations in the UK.

"This move allows both the UK pallet business and our European services to continue to flourish. These are exciting times for Geodis Calberson," said Geodis Calberson MD Jamie Cuthbert.

The Birmingham hub is built over 1,860 sq m on four acres of land and is located on the Middlemore Industrial Estate close to UK's motorway network, it offers storage space for around 1,500 pallets.

December - SNCF Geodis was implementing a new global Transport Management System for its Freight Management division, Geodis Wilson. The new platform would be developed together with CargoWise, a global leader in logistics software. In December, both companies signed a contract to develop and implement the new system within the next three years.

The new TMS was based on ediEnterprise, CargoWise's award winning platform. It would gradually bring operational, financial and customer relationship management processes under one unified umbrella, resulting in faster and increasingly transparent information flows to the customers as well as increasing operational efficiency. The underlying single-file-concept linked all relevant information together in one consistent database. It would be launched as of next year, starting in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and the full implementation would be part of a three year development process. In total, Geodis Group would be investing €20m into this project.

"We were not only looking for the best, currently available system in the market. More precisely, we were focusing on the future capabilities of different products and service providers, their flexibility and the potential speed of innovation. In other words, we were looking for a partnership that enables us to position Geodis technically ahead of the market, both in the near future and also in the long run", said the Chief Information Officer at Geodis Wilson.

CargoWise CEO said: "Our product matches Geodis's vision of the 'single file' which at CargoWise we call OEDO or Only Enter Data Once. We recognise that this partnership will continue to drive our innovation, dramatically broaden the global footprint of our product and business and give substantial benefits to all parties involved."August - Geodis Wilson expanded its Atlanta operations into a new, larger facility encompassing 84,000 sq ft (7,800 sq m). The Atlanta operation provided air freight, ocean freight, customs brokerage, domestic forwarding, warehousing & distribution and other freight management solutions. Geodis Wilson Atlanta was also a primary US air freight gateway to Europe, with regular consolidations. "The newly expanded Atlanta facility will be a model for future growth and expansion in the US market for Geodis Wilson," commented the Chief Operating Officer Eastern USA.

"The well established trend in manufacturing growth throughout the Southeast has been apparent for quite some time with increases in export and import activity," said the newly appointed Southeast US Regional Manager and acting Branch Manager for Atlanta. "With our newly expanded warehouse and gateway, and with our enhanced security and compliance programmes, we are in a prime position to service the market's continually growing freight transportation needs in the critical industries throughout the area including automotive, industrial manufacturing, fast moving consumer goods, aviation and furniture."

Geodis Wilson had also invested in the necessary infrastructure in Atlanta to become one of several new Certified Cargo Screening Facilities (CCSFs) in the United States. This investment provided Geodis Wilson with the equipment, facility, security enhancements and trained staff in order to provide shippers with a fast, efficient, secure, and predictable cost option for screening freight in compliance with the TSA's (Transportation Security Administration) new 100% cargo screening mandate for all passenger aircraft.

Geodis Wilson Atlanta served as the airfreight gateway for the entire region, including Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and parts of Florida and Virginia.March - Geodis Wilson has opened a new airfreight office in Dubai. In the first of three service developments this year in the United Arab Emirates, global forwarder and logistics services provider Geodis Wilson has opened a new airfreight office in Dubai to support increasing demand for this service mode as well as its advancing sea-air product. Based in Dubai's busy Cargo Village, the new office will employ 22 people.

The new facility will handle freight from up to ten inbound flights daily - mainly from Europe and the Far East - as well as sea-air cargo originating as ocean freight from the Geodis Wilson network in the Far East, which is switched from the nearby Jebel Ali port to air cargo on Dubai flights bound for European destinations. The new office will also be involved in customs clearance, general forwarding, supply chain management, warehousing and customs clearance activities.

Geodis Wilson, which is ranked among Dubai's top ten forwarders, employs a total of 70 people in the Emirate and has its regional headquarters at nearby Jebel Ali, where ocean freight activities are also carried out.

Early indications suggest that Geodis Wilson"s year-on-year activity in Dubai is currently growing at more than 10 per cent across all modes. There is particular strength in the sea-air business, which allows shippers to save on the cost of a total airfreight movement from the Far East to Europe, while offering substantial transit time savings over an end-to-end ocean freight movement. Sea-air demand is particularly strong from the textile and hi-tech sectors.

The second significant milestone for Geodis Wilson in the UAE will be the opening of an Abu Dhabi office during the second quarter. Within this region, the company also has offices in Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Later this year, a third landmark event will be the opening of a new regional headquarters in Jebel.

May - Global freight management company Geodis Wilson has announced the opening of a new dedicated warehouse for pharmaceutical products at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The new facility will be opened on Wednesday 3rd June.

The new warehouse is dedicated exclusively to the storage and distribution of pharmaceutical products, and complies with all relevant protocols and current standards in the sector. The facility offers:

quality and integrity control

truck temperature check

X Ray security checks

temperature controlled transit storage

shipment preparation

export customs clearance formalities

handover to airlines

inventory, reverse management and quarantine facilities

Pharmaceutical products can be stored in a temperature-controlled area divided into two sections, offering one area with a temperature of between +2 and +8, and another with temperatures between +15 and +25◦C. In addition, there is a dedicated area for pharmaceutical goods at ambient temperature.

There is a high degree of security at the Geodis Wilson warehouse, which gives access only to authorised individuals, and is constantly monitored by CCTV. The warehouse is located in the bonded area of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, and is available to all modes of transport. June - Following investment at locations in Amiens, Chalons en Champagne, Milan and Paris Bonneuil, Geodis Calberson announced that it had made a further investment in property by opening a new facility for the France Express network in Lyon Corbas.

The secure platform, dedicated to national and European express, was located south-east of Lyon, next to the A46 motorway. The site covered an area of 12,000 sqm with 168 gates and could process and sort 2,400 parcels per hour.

The platform would provide daily lines to many destinations throughout Europe as well as enabling next-day delivery before midday to 36,000 cities in France, with 90 daily departures.

"Through this investment, Geodis Calberson and France Express confirm their commitment to strengthening their leadership in Express for the manufacturing sector," said the Vice-President, Groupage Division.October - Global freight management company Geodis Wilson has launched the US headquarters of its specialist Industrial Projects Division in Houston to be closer to the decision-making centers of a growing client base that needs global transportation to site of major generators, turbines, large volumes of pipes, mining and construction equipment and desalination plants, along with associated support and control.

Geodis Wilson already meets the demands of oil and gas, engineering, drilling and engineering procurement contractors (EPCs) based in the Houston area, providing a one-stop shop for transport management by truck, barge, air and ocean, as well as offering order expediting, customs brokerage, storage and inventory functions, materials management and distribution. It serves as a national center of excellence for the US and will service projects through other areas, including the eastern seaboard and Pacific coast.

Essential in serving this sector is provision of an industrial packing capability, which Geodis Wilson’s Industrial Projects Division meets through its own 65,000 sq ft (6,000 sq m) packing and temporary and long-term storage warehouse close to Houston Airport, complete with two acres of outside area for marshalling heavy plant and project equipment. Supplementing this facility, a mobile packing team will service projects at the docks where necessary.

In tandem with the technical and commercial capabilities required, the division also provides the wider expertise and support now demanded, ensuring control of infrastructure at both ends of the operation.

Geodis Wilson sees further potential development in the industrial projects activity, which has been strengthened by the acquisitions of TNT Freight Management and Rohde & Liesenfeld, attracting raft of new clients worldwide. Revenues have doubled over the past three years and further expansion is anticipated over the next five years.

The Houston office, which has grown its staff from just 15 at the start of 2009 and is expected to comprise a team of 80 by the end of 2010, joins a global Industrial Projects Division network of competence centers in 34 countries. Other scheduled launches include Abu Dhabi, Dammam and Rio de Janeiro. Algeria and Libya have also joined the network.

The acquisition was part of a wider strategy to strengthen Geodis’ logistics capabilities and position the company as a global logistics provider

The integration of IBM’s network reinforced Geodis’ presence in the Americas and expanded network coverage in China, India and Russia, amongst others, significantly.

In addition to the expanded network, Geodis also acquired IBM’s global logistics services capabilities, expertise and best practices, as well as an established global platform that would enable growth

Geodis gained scale and was able to leverage strength in groupage, FTL, 3PL and freight forwarding markets

Outcome of deal

SNCF Geodis became sole lead logistics provider for IBM, managing around €1bn of IBM's logistics costs. It is responsible for services including asset recovery, service parts logistics and flow management for all hardware and software products globally

The acquisition allowed Geodis to enter the gas and chemical container hire markets, and accelerated the scale and development of the asset management unit at a European level

Ermewa had been a profitable company with a proven business model. In 2008 it reported turnover of €383.9m

Outcome of Deal

The transaction raised concerns on markets linked to the transportation of cereals by rail, and the commissioning of such transportation in France, Benelux, Italy and parts of Germany at the European Commission

Ermewa divested of certain European activities, including axial hopper wagon hire, to meet regulation and see the deal approved

Over the last five years, SNCF Geodis has made at least two substantial acquisitions, both in 2010. These were Giraud’s Northern Europe and Southern Europe road transport operations and the remaining 50.4% of Ermewa, a European rail freight provider. Another substantial deal in 2010 was its purchase of Ciblex, France’s fourth largest groupage provider and specialist in small parcel express delivery. The company had revenues of €156m in 2009, of which 70% were derived from health, pharmaceutical and optical products. It had 700 employees, 18 depots in France, two in Belgium and one in the Netherlands. However, Ciblex was sold in September 2014 to EHDH-Eurotranspharma, France’s largest carrier of healthcare products.

After 2010 its acquisitions have been of a smaller scale, though still significant. In 2011, the company acquired One Source Logistics, a US freight broker which organises domestic transportation services (LTL and FTL). It was SNCF Geodis’ only acquisition outside of Europe from 2010 to 2014. Although the company itself was small, the accompanying rhetoric from Geodis’ CEO was far more significant, stating that the company wanted to double its US freight forwarding business within five years, based on both external and organic growth. Geodis Wilson (freight forwarding division) had revenues of €750m in the Americas in 2010. In 2012, SNCF Geodis expanded in Central & Eastern Europe through its purchases of Benga Autologistics (revenues of €3m), a Romanian automotive logistics provider, and MF Cargo (revenues of €21m), a Hungarian road transport provider serving the FMCG and retail sectors. It has also expanded its position in contract logistics by acquiring France’s Pharmalog (revenues of €18m) and Italy’s Bertola Servizi Logistici (revenues of €61m). SNCF Geodis claimed that the latter was Italy’s tenth largest contract logistics provider and promoted SNCF Geodis to the third largest logistics provider in Italy, with revenues of around €400m and 2,000 employees.

Acquisitions and Disposals Activity Timeline

Source: Transport Intelligence

SNCF Geodis Acquisitions by Logistics Market (1986-2014)

Source: Transport Intelligence

Acquisitions by Geographic Location (1986-2014)

Source: Transport Intelligence

Apart from Ermewa, SNCF Geodis has also developed its rail freight business by acquiring Lorry-Rail in 2010 and a 25% stake in COMSA EMTE in 2013. Looking forward, it is difficult to predict SNCF Geodis’ acquisition activity. As already stated, US expansion is possible, although an August 2013 report in the French newspaper Les Echos suggested that Geodis Wilson had been refused $500m from SNCF to purchase a US competitor, with debt reduction a more pressing priority.

SNCF Geodis acquired European road freight transport provider Giraud in two parts by acquiring two of its divisions in 2009 and another two in 2010. The company is a European road freight transport provider. In 2009, SNCF Geodis acquired the ‘Iron and Steel’ and ‘Central and Eastern Europe’ divisions, adding €127m in revenue. The iron and steel division had 2008 revenues of €72m. It served French iron and steel manufacturers, with Arcelor-Mittal accounting for around 50% of revenues alone. The Central and Eastern Europe division had revenues of €52.4m in 2008. It was active in Germany, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania. In 2010, SNCF Geodis acquired the Northern Europe (revenues of €76m in 2009) and Southern Europe (revenues of €105m in 2009) divisions. These operations were primarily in Spain, France, Italy and the UK. Geodis claimed that Giraud was the third largest road freight carrier in Spain.

Ermewa

Effective February 2010, SNCF Geodis completed the full takeover of Ermewa, by acquiring the remaining 50.4% share in the company for €261m. Ermewa is a European rail freight transport company specialising in the chartering of wagons and tank containers. At the time of the acquisition, it operated a fleet of 21,000 wagons and 40,000 containers. The company had 515 employees operating in 30 offices in 20 countries. Its revenues were €384m in 2008.

IBM Global Logistics

In 2009, SNCF Geodis acquired IBM Global Logistics for $365m (€295m). This involved the integration of 1,200 IBM employees (80% outside Europe) across 58 countries and the management of around €1bn of activity per year. Geodis effectively became a 4PL provider for IBM, managing its worldwide asset recovery services, service parts logistics, and flow management of all hardware and software products. It was the world’s biggest logistics service contract.

Rohde & Liesenefeld

In 2007, SNCF Geodis acquired Rohde & Liesenfeld, a German-based global air and sea freight forwarder, with revenues of €270m in 2007. The company had been Geodis’ main freight forwarding partner since 2002.

TNT Freight Management/ Wilson

In 2006, SNCF Geodis acquired the freight forwarding division of TNT for €460m. By volume, the company was a top 20 air freight forwarder and top 10 sea freight forwarder. Its net revenues in 2005 were €782m, of which around half was generated by air freight and over one third from sea freight. By region, its largest market was Scandinavia, representing 44.7% of revenues, followed by Asia Pacific (20.2%), Europe/ Middle East (19.5%) and Americas (15.6%). It had 2,200 employees operating in 26 countries. The acquisition approximately doubled Geodis’ freight forwarding revenues and employees, placing it as a top five European freight forwarder.

September - European Healthcare Distribution Holding (EHDH), principal shareholder of Eurotranspharma, a provider of pharmaceutical and healthcare product transport solutions, announced that it had completed the acquisition of the CIBLEX express delivery network from Geodis.

EHDH and CIBLEX had built an industrial development plan designed to bolster their respective service offerings in their dedicated markets. EHDH intended to further develop the CIBLEX network to deal with the demands of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry while retaining its express capability.

Under the plan the CIBLEX network would continue to handle ambient temperature parcels under 30 kg. But in addition Eurotranspharma would use it to handle all healthcare products over 30 kg as well as all temperature controlled deliveries. The companies claimed that this would create a multipurpose but specialised network.

BPI France and a bank pool were providing financial backing for EHDH's development in order to implement the group's investment strategy.July - Geodis announced that it had signed an agreement with AF Logistics, a subsidiary of the Italian logistics company Ferrari, for the disposal of Züst Ambrosetti, Geodis’ Italian groupage express subsidiary, and the formation of a partnership between the two groups.

Under the agreement, AF Logistics would take over all the employees and of the operating sites of Züst Ambrosetti and maintain the company’s brand. In addition, Züst Ambrosetti would, as part of the Ferrari Group, be Geodis’ partner in Italy for groupage and express. Züst Ambrosetti would also continue to handle current transport from and to Geodis Logistics’ warehouses in Italy.

The disposal was part of Geodis’ strategic decision to strengthen the group’s groupage and express network in France and develop its business in Europe through partnerships. Through the agreement, Geodis would continue to guarantee its customers a service for their groupage needs in Italy.

While Geodis was withdrawing from direct involvement in groupage and express operations in Italy, the company would continue to develop its Italian freight forwarding, contract logistics and road freight activities through its Geodis Wilson, Geodis Logistics and Geodis BM divisions.May - Geodis Wilson announced that it had formed a joint venture partnership with the regional warehousing and distribution company Banz Group in Bahrain. The joint venture was to be based in Juffair, Bahrain, with administrative operations for contract logistics run from an 8,000 sq m warehouse facility. The warehouse included ambient, chilled and frozen storage space.

The Middle East Cluster Managing Director for Geodis Wilson said, “We are offering a full menu of freight services, including air, sea, road, sea–air and project forwarding. Geodis Wilson is also well–known for its provision of contract logistics and the Bahrain operation will deliver a wide range of services in this category; inbound and outbound logistics, customs clearance, cargo insurance, reverse logistics and other value–added services.”

“Servicing our customers where they grow is part of our dynamic business strategy,” said the Executive Vice President of Geodis Wilson. “This means increasing our footprint not only in the large and emerging economies, as we do in Brazil, India, China and also the US, but also in other dynamic regions, like the Middle East, where we already have a presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

April - SNCF Geodis and the Spanish service provider COMSA EMTE signed an agreement under which SNCF Geodis was to take a stake in COMSA Rail Transport (CRT). SNCF Geodis took a 25% share in the capital of COMSA Rail Transport. In parallel, CRT and SNCF Geodis signed a partnership to foster the development of rail freight between France, Central Europe and the entire Iberian Peninsula.

With the partnership, CRT and SNCF Geodis stepped up their collaborative efforts to develop goods transport by rail on both sides of the Pyrenees, notably by taking advantage of the extension of the standard-gauge network in Spain and infrastructure on the Mediterranean corridor between Gibraltar and Perpignan, France. Growth was also to be driven by VIIA, the rail motorway business of SNCF Geodis, which is reviewing the feasibility of extending the Bettembourg, Luxembourg,-Le Boulou, France, link to Spain.

April - Geodis gained approval and took over part of Sernam's activities.

The Commercial Court of Nanterre handed down a favourable opinion on Geodis' offer on a partial takeover of Sernam activity. The Court considered that all the conditions had been met for the successful completion of the transaction.

The activities in question were expected to be integrated in May within the Geodis Calberson network, which, under its own brand, would then handle shipments to Sernam customers.

The integration of part of Sernam would enable Geodis Calberson to strengthen its position in France.

Chairman and CEO of Geodis, said: "The favourable decision of the commercial court underlines the industrial relevance of our takeover project".

Sernam Services, a groupage and express parcel company, was placed in receivership on 31 January 2012. April - SNCF Geodis acquired MF Cargo, a transport business serving FMCG and retail clients in Hungary. MF Cargo was complementary to Geodis Hungary, the company previously served as a transport subcontractor for Geodis.

Geodis announced that the acquisition would provide it with a "true national distribution network in Hungary" and improve its capabilities for transporting international flows among the countries adjoining the European Union. The company hoped that the acquisition would enable it to become the local leader in FMCG and retail logistics.

MF Cargo had estimated revenue of €21m in 2011. The company had a fleet of 154 tractors and 169 semi-trailers and employed 212 people.

The CEO of Geodis, concluded: "I am very pleased with this acquisition. It advances our strategic priorities and enables us to broaden our capabilities with specific expertise and assets that will attract key clients in Hungary and more generally in Eastern and central Europe."

InNight specialises in overnight deliveries for the optics and spare parts sectors.

It provides delivery of documents, mail bags, parcels or small containers to secure drop-off points before 9am.

Geodis Ciblex and GLS France were to work together to transfer the operation over to Geodis, which was expected to take effect November 26.

Geodis said adding the new unit would help broaden its offering in the French overnight delivery market.

Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of the Geodis group, said: “This transaction significantly boosts the existing expertise of GeodisCiblex in overnight deliveries across France, especially through its H Night offering and will enable us to accelerate our development in the optics and spare parts sectors.”September - The Geodis Group strengthened its position on the healthcare market and consolidated its offering with the acquisition of the pharmaceutical pre-wholesaler Pharmalog.

Pharmalog was a pharmaceuticals logistics and distribution company based in Val de Reuil in Normandy, France. It had 50,000 sq m of storage space and a workforce of 150. Pharmalog had revenue of €18m.

The new entity would carry out a full range of value-added operations: sales administration, customer debt recovery, repackaging, management of free medical samples, etc. It had nine specialised platforms in France (warehouses, clean rooms, controlled temperature premises, etc.) a workforce of almost 500 employees.

In the long term, this organisation would be deployed Europe-wide, based on operations already carried out for the health sector by Geodis Logistics in Benelux, Ireland and Italy. At the same time, Pharmalog customers would gain access to all the dedicated services in logistics, distribution and international transport delivered by the Geodis Group to healthcare professionals.

The CEO of Geodis, said: "This new vertical offering places Geodis among the top three players in healthcare logistics in France, as well as opening broad new prospects in Europe. This organisation will bring real benefits for customers since it is a close fit with the services developed by the cross-cutting entity Geodis Global Solutions and the other divisions of the Geodis Group: Groupage & Express, Contract Logistics, Freight Management and Road."June - Geodis Wilson, the freight forwarding arm of SNCF Geodis, acquired US based One Source Logistics, a non-asset based freight broker that specialises in providing domestic transportation services focused on truckloads and less-than-truckloads.

"Taking over One Source Logistics is a first step in the company’s growth strategy in the U.S.," said Philippe Gilbert, Geodis Wilson’s executive vice president. "With the extended link to domestic services in North America we are able to satisfy the needs of a wide range of our air freight and ocean freight clients."

Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO Geodis Group, stated: "Our aim is to, at least, double our freight forwarding business in the US within the coming five years, based on external and organic growth." Including the recently established 4PL product as well as Geodis Wilson's activities in the entire Americas' region. The Group reported €750m revenue in 2010 and employs 1,400 people.

Demeulenaere said the company’s focus on the American market had already proved a success with revenue of $1bn across the entire region.

November - SNCF Geodis, the transport and logistics division of the SNCF Group, has acquired the shares of Caisse des Depots et Consignations and Vinci Concessions in Lorry-Rail, increasing its holding in the company from 12.5% to over 50%.

Founded in 2007, Lorry-Rail transports unaccompanied semi-trailers and swap bodies via rail motorway between Perpignan and Luxembourg. The 1,050 km line connects the Bettembourg and Le Boulou platforms.July - The European Commission (EC) approved, in accordance with the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition by Geodis of sole control of Giraud, an international road freight group.

In a statement issued last week, the EC said it had concluded that the transaction "would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it".

The EC explained that Geodis was a global logistics chain and goods transport operator active mainly in France. It was a subsidiary of SNCF-P, a holding company which managed SNCF's shareholdings, particularly with regard to rail freight transport, combined transport, freight wagon hire, resource management and port handling. Giraud was an international road freight group active in commissioning freight forwarding, logistics and road freight services in Europe.

"By the notified transaction, Geodis aims to acquire sole control of the four areas of the Giraud group's activity (Central and Eastern Europe, steel industry, northern Europe and France, and southern Europe). There are no significant overlaps between the parties' activities," stated the EC.

"The proposed transaction will result in a vertical relationship between, on the one hand, SNCF's rail freight transport services and, on the other, Giraud's land‑based freight forwarding activities (including freight forwarding by rail and road).

"The Commission has examined the effects of the proposed transaction and confirmed that there would be no incentive for SNCF to restrict access to its rail transport services following the merger because Giraud specialises in commissioning road transport, and because there are strong competitors in the freight forwarding sector who are important clients of SNCF."

Giraud became a part of Geodis BM, Geodis' road freight division.July - SNCF Geodis wholly acquired Ermewa, a major European player in wagon rental, operation and maintenance for the transport of hazardous and non-hazardous liquid, gas and solid products.

At the time of the completion of the acquisition, Ermewa owned a fleet of 60,000 wagons, 23,000 containers and 16,000 small containers.

Ermewa became part of the Asset Management entity of SNCF Geodis.April - Geodis' acquisition of French parcels company Ciblex, announced on 17 March, was closed on 22 April, with Ciblex becoming an integral part of the Groupage Division of the Geodis group. Ciblex will provide the Group's new "0-30 kg parcels" network.The parcel service would broaden the Group's range of small parcel solutions, especially in e-commerce, health, optics, high-tech products and spare parts, sectors in which Ciblex plays a leading role. With a 700-strong workforce and more than 700 subcontractors, Ciblex was a specialised autonomous network able to manage late collections, up to 8 pm in Ile-de-France, for next-day deliveries before 8 am, 9 am, 10 am or midday, depending on the service required. The agreement will also round out the Geodis transport offering in Belgium.March - Following the acquisition of Giraud's Steel division and Central and Eastern Europe division in July 2009, Geodis had entered into exclusive negotiations to buy its two remaining divisions, Northern Europe and Southern Europe (full and partial truckload road transport). The company said this would allow it to expand its European coverage, particularly in Spain. Giraud was the third-largest road freight carrier in Spain, and a major player in France.

Geodis commented that the transaction would be concluded very quickly, after employees had been informed and after approval by the competition authorities, who were expected to rule on the acquisition by the end of the first half of 2010.

"Giraud's corporate culture is close to ours," said the director of the Geodis Road division. "It has a centralized organization, strong culture of operational excellence and management tools that are similar to ours. These factors, along with our successful experience with the Steel division and Central and Eastern Europe division, augur well for a successful integration."

"For Geodis BM, this acquisition is an opportunity to build a true European network and to play a full role in the Group's global end-to-end offering. With this new network, the revenue of Geodis BM will exceed one billion euros, based on the expertise of its 5,000 employees," concluded the CEO of Geodis.

In addition in early March Geodis SA announced the acquisition of BSL Bertola Servizi Logistici S.p.A. Based in Pavia, Italy, BSL provides warehousing and logistics services to the consumer goods, textiles and automotive industries. Bertola provides contract logistics services from its base in Veneto, Italy. Terms were not disclosed.March - Geodis acquired Ciblex, France's fourth-ranked groupage operator and a specialist in small parcel express delivery. Geodis said that it was pursuing several objectives through the acquisition.

It wished to:

reinforce its position in the parcel service, a market that had developed considerably over the last few years mainly with the growth of e-commerce in which Ciblex was a leading operator.

develop its technical expertise specific to parcel processing, relying on an independent network of more than 700 service providers.

improve its value-added services offer that met the needs of the Group's customers mainly in the sectors of e-commerce, healthcare, optical, high tech and spare parts.

complete the Geodis transport network in Benelux.

The director of the Groupage/Express division, said: "I would like to welcome the Ciblex teams, who share the same values, quality of service and respect of commitments, which are vital for our customers."

The deputy CEO of Geodis, concluded: "I am very pleased with this acquisition, which is part of our strategic priorities and enables us to enrich our global European service offering with specific expertise that will attract our international customers."March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

September - The SNCF and Eurotunnel groups had teamed up to acquire Veolia Cargo, the rail freight businesses of the Veolia group. Veolia Cargo, Europe's leading private rail freight operator, had a particularly strong presence in Germany, Benelux and France. Consisting of 20 subsidiaries, it employed nearly 1,200 people and reported revenue of €188m in 2008.

The SNCF group had taken over the rail companies based in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, while the Eurotunnel group acquires the French branch of Veolia Cargo (Socorail, Veolia Cargo France, Veolia Cargo Link and CFTA Cargo).

The transaction strengthened SNCF's rail network in Europe, especially in the Netherlands and Germany, where Veolia Cargo was the leading private operator, notably through its subsidiary Rail4Chem.

The Deputy CEO of SNCF and head of the SNCF Geodis division, said: "This acquisition is part of our drive to develop rail freight, notably by intensifying international links for full train loads in Europe. For example, we will be able to directly operate trains between Rotterdam and France to meet the growing needs of our customers in this area."

The activities acquired in France by Europorte 2, Eurotunnel's specialist rail freight subsidiary, covered a broad and integrated range of services, including domestic and international rail freight traffic, local freight services on secondary lines, and services for industry.

These services were complementary to and non competitive with Eurotunnel's existing services. The new activities would support growth in the group's rail freight business. In 2008, with a workforce of roughly 600, they generated revenues of around €50m. The Chairman and CEO of Eurotunnel, commented: "I am very pleased that our offer, presented in partnership with the SNCF group, was selected by Veolia. It marks a decisive step in the development of Europorte 2 and the sustainable growth of Groupe Eurotunnel. From a strategic point of view, the rail freight sector holds great potential for the future, particularly in light of environmental considerations."

The transaction was expected to be completed by the end of the year, following approval from the competition authorities. July - Geodis Calberson has signed a framework agreement to purchase the business of Cool Jet, a major player in the domestic groupage and chartering market in France. The actual transfer of activities will take place on October 1, subject to the approval of competition authorities and Labour groups. Thanks to Cool Jet's portfolio of 5,000 active customers, Geodis Calberson is acquiring the additional volumes needed to ramp up its domestic groupage network to full capacity.

Included in the acqusition are two buildings located in theParisregion (Gennevilliers) and the North region (Lesquin).

In conjunction with this acquisition, Geodis took full control of Prisme, an Economic Interest Group in which Cool Jet had a 50% stake.

"This acquisition contributes to a dynamic of growth that we want to maintain in each of the Geodis divisions. In particular it strengthens our leadership position inFranceand will accelerate the development of our European groupage activities," said Geodis. March - Geodis confirmed its intention to acquire part of the activities of another French transport/logistics provider, Giraud International*, namely the metallurgy unit and the Central and Eastern Europe area division.

"The two entities provide essential synergies with Fret SNCF and Bourgey Montreuil," said Geodis in an official company statement. "Once the acquisition is definitive and the competition authorities have given their approval, the metallurgy unit will be integrated in the full Truck Load division of the Geodis group and the Central and Eastern Europe division in the Logistics division of the Geodis group."

Geodis said the businesses concerned were worth over €100m in revenues and corresponded with the SNCF group's strategy of multimodal development. "Sernam has not been discussed," it added.

* Giraud International is a limited liability company headquartered in France. According to the company's corporate website, its majority shareholder is Butler Capital Partners, which is also the shareholder of Sernam.

January - Geodis and the Belgian service provider Nova Holding are creating a joint venture that will provide logistics services in the port of Antwerp. Geodis Logistics, the logistics Division of the Geodis group, is signing a joint venture with the logistics service provider Nova Natie, so as to set up a new entity dedicated to the development of logistics activities in the port of Antwerp.

The new common entity Geodis Nova Logistics resulting from this joint venture will aim at providing value-added logistics services directly in the port of Antwerp: control of products, labelling, postponement, assembling, kitting, packaging, co-packing,… They will namely concern the manufacturers and distributors willing to optimize their export and import channels in Europe, via the port of Antwerp.

January - The French Ministry of Defense awarded Geodis a new contract for freight transport in France and Germany. Under the contract Geodis had been hauling specialized technical material weighing less than 30 kg or more than one ton by truck between all Defense Ministry depots and storage sites and the 60 French military bases located in mainland France and Germany.

Geodis provided the army, air force and navy as well as the joint armed forces services (medical and fuel services and the quartermaster corps) with transport for all goods required in their activities, from replacement parts to medical supplies and computer equipment.

The Ministry had previously awarded Geodis a contract on September 1, 2013, to supply express transport in mainland France to the armed forces and in particular the aircraft support unit, which is its primary user. To meet the armed forces requirement of prompt service for the urgent shipments covered by this contract, Geodis set up a five-person unit that was operational 24/7.

Since 2012, Geodis had also worked for the Ministry of Defense at its multimodal transport centre at Villacoublay, France, in its capacity as public contract holder, where it provides sea transport services and, since 2013, air transport services, in addition to those operated by the Ministry to supply French armed forces everywhere in the world.

September – Auchan chose Geodis for its consumer and non-food goods logistics and for its distribution in Hungary. To provide these services Geodis had two logistics platforms with a combined area of 70,000 sq m in Ullo, south of Budapest. These platforms worked round-the-clock to supply the 19 Auchan hypermarkets six days a week.

With this platform, Geodis was able to provide all the logistics services required for consumer and household goods. More than 160 employees managed incoming shipments, storage and order picking for more than 35,000 part numbers.

Every year, Geodis also oversaw the distribution of 20m parcels for the 19 Auchan stores in Hungary. For this task, the company used its own fleet of 125 vehicles, of which 80 were temperature controlled.

September - The Industrial Projects division of international freight forwarder Geodis Wilson secured a 3 year contract with Caracal Energy Inc., an international player in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields.

Caracal Energy chose Geodis Wilson as its logistics partner for the exploration of a resource field in Chad, the company’s primary market. The deal included global freight forwarding activities by air and sea, planning and execution of inland logistics, customs clearance, as well as rail and road transportation through Chad and Cameroon. The contract was worth €34m, with an option to extend for an additional 2 years.

The Senior Vice President, Geodis Wilson Industrial Projects, comments: "We are extremely proud that Caracal Energy is placing its trust in us to operate this key business for them. It underlines our capabilities in oil & gas project logistics, which is one of our biggest differentiators in the market.""Geodis Wilson has performed well over the past 18 months and continues to improve in areas that are particularly important to Caracal. Caracal looks forward to a productive relationship over the next 3 years", commented the Director of Procurement & Supply Chain at Caracal.

June - Geodis Logistics, the logistics Division of SNCF Geodis, announced it would manage the road transport and logistics activities of LG Electronics in Italy for the next three years. LG Electronics provided consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances.

The project, which involved 40 people, would be operated from Castel San Giovanni (nearby Milan), where Geodis Logistics owned a 250,000 sq m logistics park. Geodis stated that more than 144,000 cu m of LG products would be managed at the site.

Under the terms of the contract, Geodis would provide warehousing, inbound and outbound distribution as well as reverse logistics services including returns management, repair, refurbishment and dismantling of stock.

"Geodis Logistics, thanks to the experience it has gained working side by side with leading high technology brands, has proven to be the most suitable partner for LG Electronics, with whom we signed an important three]year contract" commented the Geodis Logistics CEO.

He added, "Thanks to our know]how, we are able to offer our client LG a great amount of flexibility in order to follow enduring market evolution and the compression of products life. Such experience allowed us to integrate our offer with reverse logistics services, thus ensuring the correct management of the end of products life cycle."

May - Combiwest chose Naviland Cargo to handle terminal operations in Lyon, France, at the Vénissieux combined transport site for its Rennes-Lyon, Le Mans-Lyon and Château Gontier-Lyon lines.

“One year after the launch of our Rennes-Lyon service and the implementation of the Le Mans-Lyon line, we have placed our trust in the expertise of Naviland Cargo to further optimise our services for haulers,” said the Chairman of Combiwest.

In addition to this agreement, Combiwest will use the French rail links departing from Lyon to Fos and Marseille managed by Naviland Cargo. In turn, according to the needs of its customers, Naviland Cargo will use Combiwest’s service from and to Rennes and Le Mans. Naviland Cargo terminal access will enable connections with ports in the south of France without road transport.

April - SNCF Geodis had signed a three-year contract with Heineken to handle its logistics flows across France. Geodis already managed the transport of 30% of Heineken goods to customers and between the brewer's sites (Marseille in the south of France, Schiltigheim in the east of France and Mons-en-Baroeul in the north of France).

In a further reflection of the enhanced working relationship between Geodis and Heineken, the contract included part of the logistics flows for France Boissons, a Heineken subsidiary.

Geodis BM stated that the the strategic new contract marked its determination to develop multi-modal transport to tie in with the Heineken group's environmental policy. As part of that drive, Geodis would make significant use of combined rail-road transport.

In addition, Geodis BM had rolled out a singular multi-business coordination system to better manage anticipation stocks, seasonal variations and promotional periods through a new Transport Management System. The system covered transport order dispatch, operational service providers, service monitoring, the management of delivery appointments and load capacities by the shipping sites (breweries and warehouses), the management of last-minute orders, and the management of quality reporting and the performance of each person involved.

The Managing Director of Geodis BM, said: "We have been working alongside Heineken since 2008. Our key priority was to bring our customer a strategic flow management solution that fulfils its expectations and corresponds to its future needs. We are very proud to have won the trust of Heineken and to have made Geodis BM the leading partner of its supply chain in France."March - Geodis Wilson, SNCF Geodis' freight management division, signed a two year contract to manage the global logistics operations for international luggage manufacturer, Delsey.

The Geodis Wilson logistics centre was located in Shanghai's Yangshan Free Trade Port Area. This was where 36,000 cu m of Delsey products for import and export would be handled yearly, as well as round-trip FCL trucking from Yangshan port to the distribution centre and Less Than Truckload (LTL) domestic distribution with a yearly volume of 4,000 cu m to Delsey customers in 37 cities in China.

Commenting on the contract success, the CEO of SNCF Geodis, said: "This contract highlights Geodis Wilson’s strong presence in China’s competitive transport and logistics market. Our innovative approach will allow Delsey to increase productivity, reduce business complexity and optimise their supply chains with a single, best in class logistics provider." March - SNCF Geodis signed a contract to deliver spare parts for Liebherr Logistics, the global construction machinery manufacturer and operator, in France.

The agreement covered the shipment of spare parts from Germany for delivery to all parts of France. Geodis had designed a made-to-measure solution in partnership with Liebherr, to enable its customer to ship spare parts from Germany to depots and customers in France in just 24 hours. This solution, which relied on the France Express network, also concerned the delivery of spare parts directly to worksites, such as the high-speed rail worksites currently in progress.

Every day, six Geodis vehicles would leave the Liebherr warehouse in Kirchdorf an der Iller in Bade Wurtemberg, southern Germany, for the three express platforms operated by Geodis in Gennevilliers, Nancy and Corbas. The parcels were delivered the next day from these platforms to all parts of France.

On signing the contract, the Vice-President, Groupage and Express Geodis, said: "The trust placed in us by Liebherr highlights the capacity of Geodis to develop solutions tailored to specific needs, notably in terms of service quality and delivery times. The density of our network enables us to meet significant logistics challenges, as for Liebherr".February - Geodis Wilson, SNCF Geodis' freight management division, signed a two year contract to manage the global logistics operations for international luggage manufacturer, Delsey.

The Geodis Wilson logistics centre was located in Shanghai's Yangshan Free Trade Port Area. This was where 36,000 cu m of Delsey products for import and export would be handled yearly, as well as round-trip FCL trucking from Yangshan port to the distribution centre and Less Than Truckload (LTL) domestic distribution with a yearly volume of 4,000 cu m to Delsey customers in 37 cities in China.

Commenting on the contract success, the CEO of SNCF Geodis, said: “This contract highlights Geodis Wilson’s strong presence in China’s competitive transport and logistics market. Our innovative approach will allow Delsey to increase productivity, reduce business complexity and optimise their supply chains with a single, best in class logistics provider.”February - SNCF Geodis won a contract with DIY retailer Castorama to provide home deliveries of website orders in France. The new, three-year contract further strengthened the collaborative effort in transport and logistics services started by the two groups in 2005.

Geodis was using a new, 24,000 sq m warehouse in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier to handle Castorama's e-commerce business and manage the cross-docking activities required to deliver the customer's stores in the Lyon area.

The cross-docking operations provided since 2006 by Geodis at the Corbas site in the Rhône department were transferred to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier warehouse for the new contract, and were used to supply continuous flows to the 19 Castorama stores in the Lyon area. The new contract had led to the creation of 36 new jobs at the new platform.

To respond to the diversity of the deliveries generated by Castorama's activities, Geodis had introduced special vehicles, including crane trucks for "heavy" equipment and vans for city centres, as well as two-person teams for special home-delivery operations.

The managing director of Geodis Logistics, commented: "The trust placed in us by Castorama underscores our expertise in e-commerce logistics. Through its capacity for innovation, Geodis provides the customer with a global solution adapted to its specific needs, particularly in terms of the size and type of goods".

Geodis had also handled multimodal rail-road transport between northern France and the Lyon area for Castorama since 2011.

December - After a partnership spanning eight years, Bayer Pharma was outsourcing all its pharmaceutical logistics to SNCF Geodis under a seven and a half-year contract.

Geodis had taken over all of Bayer's laboratory logistics operations in France at the Saint Georges de Reneins site north of Lyon. This platform of around 15,000 sq m carried out logistics operations such as incoming orders, quality control, storage, unit order picking, labelling, packaging and preparation of shipments.

Working from this automated site, Geodis processed all the health products distributed by Bayer to pharmacies and hospitals in metropolitan France and French overseas territories.

A Geodis company statement said: "Authorised for pharmaceutical warehousing in Europe, Geodis Logistics is consolidating its position on the European health market, through ten health market lines (warehousing, clean rooms, controlled temperatures, etc.) on premises of 200,000 sq m at the heart of pharmaceutical technology parks, with 600 employees, and around 15 pharmacists."October - Geodis Calberson announced it had won a contract to manage the warehousing and UK & Ireland distribution of product for Sogefi, a global supplier of original as well as aftermarket parts for the automotive industry.

The General Manager of Sogefi Aftermarket Division said: "Geodis, an established provider to the Sogefi Aftermarket Division in Europe with a proven ability to achieve high levels of delivery performance and distribution support, is now operating our aftermarket next day delivery service from a modern, future-ready distribution centre located at Lutterworth, East Midlands."

Geodis Calberson received product from Sogefi's plants in Wales and from central stock in Europe and managed stock-holding and same day order picking and dispatch. Orders were delivered next day delivery to factories across the UK, with Geodis' wholly-owned subsidiary the Fortec Distribution Network and a parcel carrier sharing the workload.

She added: "The decision to restructure our distribution service gives us a much better service level overall in the UK and Ireland. We are also confident that Geodis will ensure Sogefi achieves a robust and efficient next day service for all our distributor customers – including later order cut-off times."October - Geodis Wilson, the freight forwarding and heavy lift specialist of Geodis, was awarded a $50m contract by steel manufacturer Cimolai to manage the transport of 16 lock gates of more than 4,000 tonnes for the expansion of the Panama Canal.

The first vessel, carrying four gates, was expected to depart in February 2013, followed by three more shipments throughout the year. The project was scheduled for completion in December 2013. The gates were part of an expansion plan initiated by the Panama Canal Authority and would most likely double the capacity of the Panama Canal by 2014.

"Being a key provider in one of the world's most demanding infrastructure projects is underlining both, our outstanding competence in heavy lift shipments as well as our significance in the global ocean freight business", commented the Chairman and CEO of Geodis Group.

The new lock chambers would enable post-Panamax containerships to cross the canal. Post-Panamax ships were more than 360 m long, about 50 m wide with a draught of up to 15 m.June - Mattel, the global toy products manufacturer, awarded Geodis the management of its logistics and distribution operations in southern Europe. This six-year contract included the reception of 3,000 sea containers per year from Asia, customs clearance, palletising, storage and the management of 1,800 references to be distributed in France, Spain, and Portugal.

To support the contract win, Geodis was setting up a 42,000 sq m warehouse in the Distriport area of Marseilles, France. By late 2013, the total area of the distribution centre would be brought up to 60,000 sq m.

This contract was part of a long-standing partnership between the two companies, as Geodis had been managing Mattel's North Europe distribution centre in Venlo, Netherlands, as well as two hubs in Tanjung Pelapas and Port Klang in Malaysia since 2007.

Geodis's Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are proud and honoured by this expansion and strengthening of the partnership developed with a client as prestigious as Mattel. This partnership is based on our expertise in the toy products industry, the reliability of our solutions, and our ability to duplicate our operational excellence to better serve Mattel, in Europe and around the world."May - Geodis Wilson was selected by stationery and multi-product manufacturer, BIC, as a logistics partner in Dubai, UAE. Under the contract, Geodis Wilson would perform a variety of warehousing and logistics functions for the company for a two-year duration.

As part of its contract with BIC, Geodis Wilson would provide services that included; product unloading, reception and inspection; inventory administration and storage; stock-keeping, order preparation and documentation; dispatch packaging, loading and distribution.

The countries served would include BIC markets throughout the Middle East and the sub-continent. February - Geodis was appointed to manage, for three years, Bosch’s logistics activities, warehouse management and domestic transport for Bosch Rexroth and Buderus.Geodis consolidated its role in Italy as a Bosch Group logistics partner, extending the multi-annual partnership which already connected the two multinationals, with two new three years contracts, signed with the companies of the German Group.

The first one wassigned with Bosch Rexroth S.p.A., a worldwide leader in technologies for movement activation and moving control, the second with Buderus, the thermo technique division Bosch brand, that provides heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Geodis Logistics manages Bosch Rexroth supply chain, coordinating all logistics activities pre and post production, warehouse management, transport and distribution. In more than 4,000 sq m in Cavenago, in the province of Milan, there are 18 people involved in the supply project JIT for the production line in Cernusco sul Naviglio site and finished products warehouse management. Transport to and from the production and distribution of finished products are ensured through the Geodis Züst Ambrosetti, transport division of Geodis in Italy.

The contract signed with Buderus engaged BSL Geodis in activities of warehouse management (and transport by Geodis Züst Ambrosetti) in Castel San Giovanni logistics site, in the province of Piacenza, where 6,000 sq m would be dedicated to Buderus activities. The project involves a team of 10 persons.

These new activities will further expand the partnership established between Geodis Group and Bosch Group in the divisions powertools, automotive and heating technology.

"The signature of these two new contracts confirmed Geodis Group as a national and international logistics supplier - says Aurelio Zilio, Ceo of BSL, company owned by Geodis Group. Our offer of services for the supply chain allows us to collaborate with industry leaders in their fields as Bosch who relies on us, aware of our ability to solve any specific requirements and to support them in strategic, geographical and technological developments, thanks to the most innovative and up-to-date software created by Geodis at their disposal".

Geodis Calberson would provides a range of services to Midwich from its new distribution centre at Birmingham for a ‘significant’ value that was recently extended to include European runs.

The Birmingham hub was pioneering a new way of operating for Geodis Calberson; a member of the Fortec Distribution Network, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Geodis Calberson. As a Fortec licensee, the Birmingham hub shifts up to 40 pallets of goods for Midwich a night to destinations across the UK.

Geodis Calberson also carries out direct runs from Midwich’s warehouses in Dudley and Erdington to their end customers in the UK, which do not go through the Fortec network.

Moreover, Geodis Calberson provides runs to France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium with its market leading Eurofirst and Eurotop guaranteed door-to-door deliveries in up to 72 hours to a range of European countries.September - Computer 2000, an IT products specialist, announced its new storage partner to be Geodis Calberson.

Part of the Tech Data group, Computer 2000 is a Fortune 500 company that was making moves into the computer market in the UK. As part of the deal, Geodis Calberson would store around 600 pallets of IT goods for the company at their Magna Park base in Leicestershire.

The managing director of Geodis Calberson, Jamie Cuthbert stated: "We are delighted to be able to assist Computer 2000 in meeting their customers’ demands."

Computer 2000 would continue to store the majority of their products at their own site in Lutterworth, but any overflow would head to Magna Park, from where it would be dispatched when needed by the Fortec distribution network.

Fortec is owned by Geodis Calberson and is one of the largest pallet networks in the UK.

"We are always looking for partners to improve and extend the service we offer to our customers, and we are delighted to have Geodis Calberson working in partnership with us as we expand our operations in the UK" said logistics director of Computer 2000, Nicholas Clifton.September - The French state transport operator’s rail freight subsidiary, Fret SNCF, suffered a major body blow, losing a long-standing contract with key customer Gefco, the logistics arm of carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen.

Gefco said that it was not renewing the contract “as a result of Fret SNCF’s new multi-load, multi-customer service not meeting expectations”.

Nevertheless, Fret SNCF subsidiary Captrain would continue to carry automotive components for Gefco between its plant at Vesoul, in Eastern France, and Kalaga a fast-developing car manufacturing centre in Western Russia, said Gefco.

From the new year, Gefco said it would be sharing the former Fret SNCF business between three private French rail freight operators: Euro Cargo Rail, a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary, Europorte (Eurotunnel) and Colas Rail.

The loss of one of its top-five key accounts constituted a body blow to the operator, which had seen its traffic diminish as a result of the opening-up of competition in the sector in France and compounded by the economic downturn.

It is almost certain to compromise the company’s recovery plans which make provision for attaining a financial break-even position in 2013. The company had made heavy losses, year on year, over the past decade.

According to figures from rail network manager Reseau Férré de France (RFF), the market share of French private rail freight operators increased to 23% in the first six months of 2011, compared with 18% a year earlier.July - Lasko Beer signed a contract with Geodis Calberson to bring Slovenian lagers and lager-based drinks to the UK.

Under the rolling contract, Geodis Calberson would transport a range of bottled drinks including the Balkans’ best selling Zlatorog lager, as well as Lasko Export Gold and Lasko Dark into the UK.

Consignments would also include the Bandidos range of lager-based drinks.

Geodis Calberson would collect the bottled drinks from the brewery in Lasko, Slovenia, which is reportedly the largest brewery in the Balkan region.

It would then arrange inbound transport, customs clearance and storage at its depot in High Wycombe. From there it would then pick orders and distribute the bottled drinks to handpicked wholesalers who would sell them into pubs.

Cambridge-based Lasko Beer was a new company set up to import the Slovenian drinks by Charles Gardner and Mark Weaver.

Sales director Weaver said: “These are very exciting times for Lasko Beer, from being virtually unknown in the UK, apart from in the expatriate Balkan community, the lagers could become hugely popular.

“And if our business takes off as we are hoping, Geodis Calberson’s contract with us could grow as well.March - Geodis Logistics, through recently acquired Italian company Bertola Servizi Logistici (BSL), signed a six year agreement with YOOX Group for the supply of integrated logistics services to the new highly-automated global operations and distribution platform in Interporto Bologna.

Geodis Logistics would manage YOOX Group’s supply chain, coordinating the handling and shipping activities for fashion items (garments on hangers and flat garments), as well as inventory management related to footwear and fashion accessories in the storage, packaging, shipping and return management phases.

A dedicated team of 68 people would work on the project using the most modern storage systems.

“In 2011 we began a partnership with one of the leaders in Internet fashion and design retail. The agreement signed with YOOX Group confirms the role of Geodis as a global provider of logistics services at both the national and international level – said Aurelio Zilio, BSL CEO.

July - Nestle has renewed its cooperation with Geodis Logistics for a further five years. In its distribution centre in Ludinghausen, North Rhine, Geodis Logistics takes over the storage, picking and worldwide distribution of 500 different Nestle products.

Geodis plans to make further investment in the distribution centre as part of its sustainability strategy for 2010. The aim is for the expanded facility to reduce its energy consumption by 20%. In addition, it will extend the flow capacity enabling it to be able to respond to volume peaks.June - Parrot, a leader in wireless peripherals for mobile telephony, awarded the management of its supply chain and reverse logistics to Geodis Logistics. Following a call for tender launched in 2009, Geodis Logistics concluded a contract with Parrot covering stock management, equipment customisation and reverse logistics for its products. The award involves a multi-year contract to manage the key stages of the company's supply chain.

As a result, since February, Geodis Logistics had been providing logistics services for Parrot, including customisation of equipment and assembling kits at one of its logistics hubs in the Paris region.

The products concerned were essentially hands-free systems for mobile phones and top-of-the-range multimedia products, destined to be sold in over 60,000 outlets worldwide. Services also include order management for 80 countries in the EMEA and Latin America zones, supplying the products to Certified Installer networks, automobile accessory manufacturers, non-food superstores and department stores.

"The technical complexity of our products and market considerations call for flawless distribution to our end customers," said Parrot's Chief Production and Quality Officer at the contract signing. "We are convinced that Geodis Logistics' familiarity with this sector will enable it to provide the required levels of quality."January - Donaldson Filtration, a provider of filtration systems and replacement parts, signed a three-year contract with Geodis Calberson for the collection and delivery of up to 100 pallets per week.According to the agreement, Geodis Calberson would be responsible for the daily collection of consignments from Donaldson's UK-based factory in Leicester to all the major European markets, including France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Benelux, as well as Eastern Europe and Ireland.

Geodis Calberson would also deliver the consignments to the UK market through its Fortec pallet network and via dedicated vehicles.

June - Parrot, a leader in wireless peripherals for mobile telephony, awarded the management of its supply chain and reverse logistics to Geodis Logistics. Following a call for tender launched in 2009, Geodis Logistics concluded a contract with Parrot covering stock management, equipment customisation and reverse logistics for its products. The award involved a multi–year contract to manage the key stages of the company's supply chain.

As a result, since February, Geodis Logistics had been providing logistics services for Parrot, including customisation of equipment and assembling kits at one of its logistics hubs in the Paris region.

The products concerned were essentially hands–free systems for mobile phones and top–of–the–range multimedia products, destined to be sold in over 60,000 outlets worldwide. Services also included order management for 80 countries in the EMEA and Latin America zones, supplying the products to Certified Installer networks, automobile accessory manufacturers, non–food superstores and department stores.

"The technical complexity of our products and market considerations call for flawless distribution to our end customers," said Philippe Poussin, Parrot's Chief Production and Quality Officer at the contract signing. "We are convinced that Geodis Logistics' familiarity with this sector will enable it to provide the required levels of quality."January - Azkar announced the signing of a partnership agreement with Geodis, part of French rail and logistics group SNCF, relating to the distribution of the latter's parcel traffic in Spain and Portugal.

In a statement, Azkar said that it would participate in that aspect of Geodis' activities on the Iberian Peninsular and islands. "This collaboration of two parcel sector leaders in their respective markets constitutes a major advance in the sustainable development of Geodis and, consequently, the Transport and Logistics branch of SNCF in Europe."

Azkar added that the agreement did not affect Geodis' forwarding and logistics divisions which would continue to operate normally.

Azkar claims to have more than 75 years of experience in the Iberian Peninsula and islands logistics sector. "Azkar offers its customers a powerful international network for the management of import and export of goods, from any origin or destination in the world outside Europe through Azkar Overseas, European traffic through Azkar Bisa International or in the Iberian Peninsula and islands where the company has 73 locations in Spain and Portugal."

Information Systems

TNT Freight Management (now Geodis Wilson) selected an on-demand logistics software and services specialist The Descartes Systems Group Inc.'s Global Logistics Network to help comply with the Cargo 2000 air cargo quality management industry standard. Cargo 2000 is an International Air Transport Association (IATA) interest group comprised of many of the world's major airlines, freight forwarders and general handling agents. Its goal is to implement quality management standards and systems for the worldwide air cargo industry and drive increased efficiencies in air cargo delivery.

Capabilities:

Decartes' Cargo 2000 Forwarder platform helps freight forwarders track customer shipments and measure the delivery performance of air carriers. TNT Freight Management (now Geodis Wilson) has been a member of the Global Logistics Network for several years, using Descartes' logistics communication and visbility solutions.

applications developed from its own specifications for managing its business

EDI and the interconnection of in-house information systems with those of customers and partners

4000 terminals at customer sites

interactive services at the Calberson and France Express web sites

a partnership with IBM Global Services

market places with shippers (Teleroute, Nettrans)

warehouse management solutions

E-sp@ce - a Geodis Calberson innovation which makes available via its internet site a range of interactive solutions to make exchanges simpler, more reliable and rapid.

EDI - permits the transfer of information pertaining to an order in total security and provides notification in real time.

Logistics IS - this system is devoted to the field of warehouse management.

Geodis BM IS - this system is resolutely customer oriented.

Cristal - The Cristal system can be connected to the customer's information system, as well as that of the Calberson agency. Geodis ensure the availability and maintenance of the material and software configuration.

Onboard Systems - as a complement to the shipping monitoring tools available to customers, all express drivers now have a computer system onboard their vehicles.

Geodis has also developed an NT platform tool, Millenium to handle simple of small-sized cases.

The products manage all activities at a warehouse. They handle product architecture, multiple references (shipper, commercial, supplier, manufacturer, etc.) and its multiple packaging schemes. The products also manage series and batch numbers and different dates, thereby offering tracking options for the entire logistics chain.

Teleroute implement a solution for all the 200 Geodis sites across Europe to optimise freight exchanges. In addition to the Freight Exchange solution provided to Geodis as a basis for its freight management as of 2008, Teleroute provides a Private Freight Exchange to Geodis, a system that allows Geodis to deal in priority with its network of partners.

Capabilities:

The private freight exchange system allows all European sites of Geodis to assign its freights to regular carriers. If the offer is not allocated to a regular carrier through the Private Exchange, then it will turn automatically to the general freight exchange and it will be visible by all the users of Teleroute.

March - SNCF Geodis signed a contract to deliver spare parts for Liebherr Logistics, the global construction machinery manufacturer and operator, in France.

The agreement covered the shipment of spare parts from Germany for delivery to all parts of France. Geodis had designed a made-to-measure solution in partnership with Liebherr, to enable its customer to ship spare parts from Germany to depots and customers in France in just 24 hours. This solution, which relied on the France Express network, also concerned the delivery of spare parts directly to worksites, such as the high-speed rail worksites currently in progress.

Every day, six Geodis vehicles would leave the Liebherr warehouse in Kirchdorf an der Iller in Bade Wurtemberg, southern Germany, for the three express platforms operated by Geodis in Gennevilliers, Nancy and Corbas. The parcels were delivered the next day from these platforms to all parts of France.

On signing the contract, the Vice-President, Groupage and Express Geodis, said: "The trust placed in us by Liebherr highlights the capacity of Geodis to develop solutions tailored to specific needs, notably in terms of service quality and delivery times. The density of our network enables us to meet significant logistics challenges, as for Liebherr".

October - Geodis Calberson announced it had won a contract to manage the warehousing and UK & Ireland distribution of product for Sogefi, a global supplier of original as well as aftermarket parts for the automotive industry.

The General Manager of Sogefi Aftermarket Division said: "Geodis, an established provider to the Sogefi Aftermarket Division in Europe with a proven ability to achieve high levels of delivery performance and distribution support, is now operating our aftermarket next day delivery service from a modern, future-ready distribution centre located at Lutterworth, East Midlands."

Geodis Calberson received product from Sogefi's plants in Wales and from central stock in Europe and managed stock-holding and same day order picking and dispatch. Orders were delivered next day delivery to factories across the UK, with Geodis' wholly-owned subsidiary the Fortec Distribution Network and a parcel carrier sharing the workload.

She added: "The decision to restructure our distribution service gives us a much better service level overall in the UK and Ireland. We are also confident that Geodis will ensure Sogefi achieves a robust and efficient next day service for all our distributor customers – including later order cut-off times."

January - Peter Baumann was appointed Global Director Automotive at Geodis Wilson.

He would be in charge of developing and expanding the Company’s automotive logistics business worldwide. The appointment supported the company’s global growth strategy. Geodis Wilson, a leading international freight management company, was enhancing its logistics activities in the automotive sector, as well as in the pharmaceutical and hi-tech industries.

March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

January - GEODIS LOGISTICS and the Belgian service provider NOVA HOLDING created a joint venture, which provided logistics services in the port of Antwerp.

Nova Natie, a Belgian logistics service provider, was a long-time group with family capitals, specialized in value-added logistics services for the consumer products, textile and high-tech sectors. It was one of the main logistics service providers set in the port of Antwerp, with nearly 250,000 sq m of warehouses with branch lines.

Geodis Logistics provided logistics services for for high-tech, automotive, health and consumer products. It owned 170 warehouses on 2,000,000 sq m in Europe, and benefited from Geodis group freight forwarding network, which covered 120 countries in the world, as well as from European distribution means from the Divisions Geodis Calberson and Geodis BM.

The new entity GEODIS NOVA LOGISTICS was aiming at providing value-added logistics services directly in the port of Antwerp such as control of products, labelling, postponement, assembling, kitting, packaging and co-packing to the manufacturers and distributors.

SNCF Geodis’ Full Truckload division is involved in transporting and handling hazardous goods. The main business is concentrated in the Chemicals-Gas sub-division, whose activities include transporting bulk and packaged chemical, oil and gas products as well as storing packaged chemical products. Chemicals are transported either in bulk form, in articulated tankers, or in packaged form, in semi-articulated trucks.

The Chemicals-Gas subdivision's storage facility is located at Salaise-sur-Sanne in southeast France.

SNCF Fret, part of Geodis, has considerable chemical rail freight resources. The market for rail freight has changed considerably over the past ten years due, in great part, to the de-regulation process in many parts of Europe. This has given access to the rail freight market of, for example, France, to non-French companies and private sector operators. In response, SNCF has restructured its operations, including developing its operations outside France. As regards the latter, SNCF developed Captrain which is a composite of SNCF’s existing businesses in neighbouring countries and assets such as Rail4Chem. This gives SNCF a strong presence across Germany as well as in Belgium and the Netherlands.

A further strengthening of SNCF’s chemical business was achieved through the acquisition of the rail wagon rental and tank container operator Ermewa. With a revenue in 2010 of €504m, this provides a fleet of 60,000 rail wagons with 24,000 tank containers.

October - Fret SNCF announced that it had enhanced its multi-lots multi-clients, single wagon offer and extended it to international routes.

The extended service would connect beyond France's borders on the rail line connecting Woippy (France) and Antwerp (Belgium), ensuring an end-to-end service. From early 2013, Fret SNCF would also provide this end-to-end offer for all Franco-Swiss traffic carried by Fret SNCF and CFF, its historic partner in Switzerland.

The service possibilities in France were also extended. A direct link between Lyon and Mulhouse would be operational from the end of 2012, in addition to other domestic routes.

The overall expansion of the service would supplement the 23 existing links already offered. The increase in the number of destinations responded to the needs of manufacturers, particularly those in the chemical industry.

June - Geodis Logistics, the logistics Division of SNCF Geodis, announced it would manage the road transport and logistics activities of LG Electronics in Italy for the next three years. LG Electronics provided consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances.

The project, which involved 40 people, would be operated from Castel San Giovanni (nearby Milan), where Geodis Logistics owned a 250,000 sq m logistics park. Geodis stated that more than 144,000 cu m of LG products would be managed at the site.

Under the terms of the contract, Geodis would provide warehousing, inbound and outbound distribution as well as reverse logistics services including returns management, repair, refurbishment and dismantling of stock.

"Geodis Logistics, thanks to the experience it has gained working side by side with leading high technology brands, has proven to be the most suitable partner for LG Electronics, with whom we signed an important three]year contract" commented the Geodis Logistics CEO.

He added, "Thanks to our know]how, we are able to offer our client LG a great amount of flexibility in order to follow enduring market evolution and the compression of products life. Such experience allowed us to integrate our offer with reverse logistics services, thus ensuring the correct management of the end of products life cycle."

April - SNCF Geodis had signed a three-year contract with Heineken to handle its logistics flows across France. Geodis already managed the transport of 30% of Heineken goods to customers and between the brewer's sites (Marseille in the south of France, Schiltigheim in the east of France and Mons-en-Baroeul in the north of France).

In a further reflection of the enhanced working relationship between Geodis and Heineken, the contract included part of the logistics flows for France Boissons, a Heineken subsidiary.

Geodis BM stated that the the strategic new contract marked its determination to develop multi-modal transport to tie in with the Heineken group's environmental policy. As part of that drive, Geodis would make significant use of combined rail-road transport.

In addition, Geodis BM had rolled out a singular multi-business coordination system to better manage anticipation stocks, seasonal variations and promotional periods through a new Transport Management System. The system covered transport order dispatch, operational service providers, service monitoring, the management of delivery appointments and load capacities by the shipping sites (breweries and warehouses), the management of last-minute orders, and the management of quality reporting and the performance of each person involved.

The Managing Director of Geodis BM, said: "We have been working alongside Heineken since 2008. Our key priority was to bring our customer a strategic flow management solution that fulfils its expectations and corresponds to its future needs. We are very proud to have won the trust of Heineken and to have made Geodis BM the leading partner of its supply chain in France."

February - Geodis Wilson, SNCF Geodis' freight management division, signed a two year contract to manage the global logistics operations for international luggage manufacturer, Delsey.

The Geodis Wilson logistics centre was located in Shanghai's Yangshan Free Trade Port Area. This was where 36,000 cu m of Delsey products for import and export would be handled yearly, as well as round-trip FCL trucking from Yangshan port to the distribution centre and Less Than Truckload (LTL) domestic distribution with a yearly volume of 4,000 cu m to Delsey customers in 37 cities in China.

Commenting on the contract success, the CEO of SNCF Geodis, said: “This contract highlights Geodis Wilson’s strong presence in China’s competitive transport and logistics market. Our innovative approach will allow Delsey to increase productivity, reduce business complexity and optimise their supply chains with a single, best in class logistics provider.”

February - SNCF Geodis won a contract with DIY retailer Castorama to provide home deliveries of website orders in France. The new, three-year contract further strengthened the collaborative effort in transport and logistics services started by the two groups in 2005.

Geodis was using a new, 24,000 sq m warehouse in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier to handle Castorama's e-commerce business and manage the cross-docking activities required to deliver the customer's stores in the Lyon area.

The cross-docking operations provided since 2006 by Geodis at the Corbas site in the Rhône department were transferred to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier warehouse for the new contract, and were used to supply continuous flows to the 19 Castorama stores in the Lyon area. The new contract had led to the creation of 36 new jobs at the new platform.

To respond to the diversity of the deliveries generated by Castorama's activities, Geodis had introduced special vehicles, including crane trucks for "heavy" equipment and vans for city centres, as well as two-person teams for special home-delivery operations.

The managing director of Geodis Logistics, commented: "The trust placed in us by Castorama underscores our expertise in e-commerce logistics. Through its capacity for innovation, Geodis provides the customer with a global solution adapted to its specific needs, particularly in terms of the size and type of goods".

Geodis had also handled multimodal rail-road transport between northern France and the Lyon area for Castorama since 2011.

June - Mattel, the global toy products manufacturer, awarded Geodis the management of its logistics and distribution operations in southern Europe. This six-year contract included the reception of 3,000 sea containers per year from Asia, customs clearance, palletising, storage and the management of 1,800 references to be distributed in France, Spain, and Portugal.

To support the contract win, Geodis was setting up a 42,000 sq m warehouse in the Distriport area of Marseilles, France. By late 2013, the total area of the distribution centre would be brought up to 60,000 sq m.

This contract was part of a long-standing partnership between the two companies, as Geodis had been managing Mattel's North Europe distribution centre in Venlo, Netherlands, as well as two hubs in Tanjung Pelapas and Port Klang in Malaysia since 2007.

Geodis's Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are proud and honoured by this expansion and strengthening of the partnership developed with a client as prestigious as Mattel. This partnership is based on our expertise in the toy products industry, the reliability of our solutions, and our ability to duplicate our operational excellence to better serve Mattel, in Europe and around the world."

November - Geodis Wilson announced the appointment of Gilbert den Bekker as its Vertical Market Director, Retail and Fashion.

Based at Geodis Wilson’s office in Paris, France, he would be in charge of developing and expanding the company’s logistics services in the retail and fashion sector worldwide.

September - Geodis announced that, as of October 6, it would begin making deliveries for Carrefour in Lille using a hybrid refrigerated trailer truck. A new initiative in Geodis' Distripolis urban logistics system, this first-of-its-kind service would mean deliveries to the six Carrefour stores in the Lille city centre would be both cleaner and quieter.

In May 2010, Geodis teamed up with Renault Trucks to test a unique hybrid vehicle equipped with a cryogenic refrigeration unit. The vehicle was proposed to several customers for testing, and the retailer Carrefour was first to request the new vehicle. A perfect fit with Carrefour's sustainable development strategy, this 26-tonne hybrid truck that complied with the Euro 5 standard would begin delivering goods to Carrefour stores in Lille starting in October.

The thermal engine–electric motor combo in hybrid trucks lowered diesel consumption by an average of 20%. This represented an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 10 tonnes. The use of liquid nitrogen, a non-toxic substance that emitted no CO2, as the refrigeration fluid made this vehicle even more environmentally friendly. This vehicle also had separate transport compartments, so both fresh produce and dry goods could be delivered. In addition, the cooling unit lowered the temperature twice as fast, making the truck particularly useful for the transport of vegetables.

July - Nestle renewed its cooperation with Geodis Logistics for a further five years. In its distribution centre in Ludinghausen, North Rhine, Geodis Logistics takes over the storage, picking and worldwide distribution of 500 different Nestle products.

Geodis plans to make further investment in the distribution centre as part of its sustainability strategy for 2010. The aim is for the expanded facility to reduce its energy consumption by 20%. In addition, it will extend the flow capacity enabling it to be able to respond to volume peaks.

March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

January - Geodis Logistics and the Belgian service provider Nova Holding created a joint venture, which provided logistics services in the port of Antwerp.

Nova Natie, a Belgian logistics service provider, was a long-time group with family capitals, specialized in value-added logistics services for the consumer products, textile and high-tech sectors. It was one of the main logistics service providers set in the port of Antwerp, with nearly 250,000 sq m of warehouses with branch lines.

Geodis Logistics provided logistics services for for high-tech, automotive, health and consumer products. It owned 170 warehouses on 2,000,000 sq m in Europe, and benefited from Geodis group freight forwarding network, which covered 120 countries in the world, as well as from European distribution means from the Divisions Geodis Calberson and Geodis BM.

The new entity Geodis Nova Logistics was aiming at providing value-added logistics services directly in the port of Antwerp such as control of products, labelling, postponement, assembling, kitting, packaging and co-packing to the manufacturers and distributors.

November - Geodis Wilson announced the appointment of Gilbert den Bekker as its Vertical Market Director, Retail and Fashion.

Based at Geodis Wilson’s office in Paris, France, he would be in charge of developing and expanding the company’s logistics services in the retail and fashion sector worldwide.

March - Geodis Logistics, through recently acquired Italian company Bertola Servizi Logistici (BSL), signed a six year agreement with YOOX Group for the supply of integrated logistics services to the new highly-automated global operations and distribution platform in Interporto Bologna.

Geodis Logistics would manage YOOX Group’s supply chain, coordinating the handling and shipping activities for fashion items (garments on hangers and flat garments), as well as inventory management related to footwear and fashion accessories in the storage, packaging, shipping and return management phases.

A dedicated team of 68 people would work on the project using the most modern storage systems.

“In 2011 we began a partnership with one of the leaders in Internet fashion and design retail. The agreement signed with YOOX Group confirms the role of Geodis as a global provider of logistics services at both the national and international level – said Aurelio Zilio, BSL CEO.

March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

January - Geodis Logistics and the Belgian service provider Nova Holding created a joint venture, which provided logistics services in the port of Antwerp.

Nova Natie, a Belgian logistics service provider, was a long-time group with family capitals, specialized in value-added logistics services for the consumer products, textile and high-tech sectors. It was one of the main logistics service providers set in the port of Antwerp, with nearly 250,000 sq m of warehouses with branch lines.

Geodis Logistics provided logistics services for for high-tech, automotive, health and consumer products. It owned 170 warehouses on 2,000,000 sq m in Europe, and benefited from Geodis group freight forwarding network, which covered 120 countries in the world, as well as from European distribution means from the Divisions Geodis Calberson and Geodis BM.

The new entity Geodis Nova Logistics was aiming at providing value-added logistics services directly in the port of Antwerp such as control of products, labelling, postponement, assembling, kitting, packaging and co-packing to the manufacturers and distributors.

Geodis offers both freight management and logistics services for the healthcare industry including management of returns, recalls and destruction oversight, pharmaceutical packaging and exports, management of samples and transportation management. The company provides logistics at the customer’s site, at a dedicated site or at a multi-customer platform.

Geodis has strengthened its position in the healthcare market and consolidated its offering with the acquisition of the pharmaceutical pre-wholesaler Pharmalog. Pharmalog was a pharmaceuticals logistics and distribution company based in Val de Reuil in Normandy, France.

It had 50,000 sq m of storage space and a workforce of 150 and revenue of €18m. The new entity will carry out a full range of value-added operations: sales administration, customer debt recovery, repackaging, management of free medical samples, etc. It has nine specialised platforms in France (warehouses, clean rooms, controlled temperature premises, etc.) a workforce of almost 500 employees. In the long term, this organisation will be deployed Europe-wide, based on operations already carried out for the health sector by Geodis Logistics in Benelux, Ireland and Italy.

At the same time, Pharmalog customers will gain access to all the dedicated services in logistics, distribution and international transport delivered by the Geodis Group to healthcare professionals.

Geodis have inaugurated, together with Laboratoires Expanscience, a new logistics platform for the healthcare sector at Droue-sur-Drouette near Epernon, in the heart of France's 'Cosmetic Valley'. Healthcare/Cosmetics has been a key growth sector for the Geodis group for more than 15 years.

In Europe Geodis currently operates 15 special purpose and regulation-compliant platforms that manage stocks in an ambient or controlled temperature environment, prepare orders for the entire sector, and provide value-added services such as relabelling, inspection and packaging.

To span the entire supply chain, Geodis also manages import/export transport flows for products, and handles domestic distribution through its Certipharm-certified Geodis Calberson network or its Geodis Ciblex parcels network. The new 15,600 sq m Droue-sur-Drouette platform is equipped with a retail parcel preparation line that can handle up to 12m products annually and a full-parcel preparation line.

It has a 5,800 sq m storage area with the temperature regulated at 15°/25° and employs 50 people in two shifts. Its main client is Laboratoires Expanscience, a long-standing customer of the Geodis group. Laboratoires Expanscience is present in both the pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetic sectors, and is the leader for skin care products for babies. Geodis distributes Expanscience products in more than 50 countries. Every year, this involves managing 1,600 articles, checking in 50,000 pallets, preparing 1,300,000 orders and shipping 1,500,000 parcels.

Services include:

logistics at the customer's site, at a dedicated site or at a multi-customer platform

customer or Geodis computer systems with interfacing and portability capacity.

Geodis has the triple role of manufacturer, depositary and distributor of drugs for clinical trials enabling them to conduct any business related to health logistics.

December - After a partnership spanning eight years, Bayer Pharma was outsourcing all its pharmaceutical logistics to SNCF Geodis under a seven and a half-year contract.

Geodis had taken over all of Bayer's laboratory logistics operations in France at the Saint Georges de Reneins site north of Lyon. This platform of around 15,000 sq m carried out logistics operations such as incoming orders, quality control, storage, unit order picking, labelling, packaging and preparation of shipments.

Working from this automated site, Geodis processed all the health products distributed by Bayer to pharmacies and hospitals in metropolitan France and French overseas territories.

A Geodis company statement said: "Authorised for pharmaceutical warehousing in Europe, Geodis Logistics is consolidating its position on the European health market, through ten health market lines (warehousing, clean rooms, controlled temperatures, etc.) on premises of 200,000 sq m at the heart of pharmaceutical technology parks, with 600 employees, and around 15 pharmacists."

September - The Geodis Group strengthened its position on the healthcare market and consolidated its offering with the acquisition of the pharmaceutical pre-wholesaler Pharmalog.

Pharmalog was a pharmaceuticals logistics and distribution company based in Val de Reuil in Normandy, France. It had 50,000 sq m of storage space and a workforce of 150. Pharmalog had revenue of €18m.

The new entity would carry out a full range of value-added operations: sales administration, customer debt recovery, repackaging, management of free medical samples, etc. It had nine specialised platforms in France (warehouses, clean rooms, controlled temperature premises, etc.) a workforce of almost 500 employees.

In the long term, this organisation would be deployed Europe-wide, based on operations already carried out for the health sector by Geodis Logistics in Benelux, Ireland and Italy. At the same time, Pharmalog customers would gain access to all the dedicated services in logistics, distribution and international transport delivered by the Geodis Group to healthcare professionals.

The CEO of Geodis, said: "This new vertical offering places Geodis among the top three players in healthcare logistics in France, as well as opening broad new prospects in Europe. This organisation will bring real benefits for customers since it is a close fit with the services developed by the cross-cutting entity Geodis Global Solutions and the other divisions of the Geodis Group: Groupage & Express, Contract Logistics, Freight Management and Road."

September - Geodis inaugurated, together with Laboratoires Expanscience, a new logistics platform for the healthcare sector at Droue-sur-Drouette near Epernon, in the heart of France's 'Cosmetic Valley'.

Healthcare/Cosmetics had been a key growth sector for the Geodis group for more than 15 years. In Europe the Group currently operated 15 special purpose and regulation-compliant platforms that managed stocks in an ambient or controlled temperature environment, prepare orders for the entire sector, and provide value-added services such as relabelling, inspection and packaging. To span the entire supply chain, Geodis also managed import/export transport flows for products, and handled domestic distribution through its Certipharm-certified Geodis Calberson network or its Geodis Ciblex parcels network.

The new 15,600 sq m Droue-sur-Drouette platform was equipped with a retail parcel preparation line that could handle up to 12m products annually and a full-parcel preparation line. It had a 5,800 sq m storage area with the temperature regulated at 15°/25° and employed 50 people in two shifts.

Its main client was Laboratoires Expanscience, a long-standing customer of the Geodis group.

Laboratoires Expanscience was present in both the pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetic sectors, and was the leader for skin care products for babies. Geodis distributed Expanscience products in more than 50 countries. Every year, this involved managing 1,600 articles, checking in 50,000 pallets, preparing 1.3m orders and shipping 1.5m parcels.

June - Parrot, a leader in wireless peripherals for mobile telephony, awarded the management of its supply chain and reverse logistics to Geodis Logistics. Following a call for tender launched in 2009, Geodis Logistics concluded a contract with Parrot covering stock management, equipment customisation and reverse logistics for its products. The award involves a multi-year contract to manage the key stages of the company's supply chain.

As a result, since February, Geodis Logistics had been providing logistics services for Parrot, including customisation of equipment and assembling kits at one of its logistics hubs in the Paris region.

The products concerned were essentially hands-free systems for mobile phones and top-of-the-range multimedia products, destined to be sold in over 60,000 outlets worldwide. Services also include order management for 80 countries in the EMEA and Latin America zones, supplying the products to Certified Installer networks, automobile accessory manufacturers, non-food superstores and department stores.

"The technical complexity of our products and market considerations call for flawless distribution to our end customers," said Parrot's Chief Production and Quality Officer at the contract signing. "We are convinced that Geodis Logistics' familiarity with this sector will enable it to provide the required levels of quality."

June - Parrot, a leader in wireless peripherals for mobile telephony, awarded the management of its supply chain and reverse logistics to Geodis Logistics. Following a call for tender launched in 2009, Geodis Logistics concluded a contract with Parrot covering stock management, equipment customisation and reverse logistics for its products. The award involved a multi–year contract to manage the key stages of the company's supply chain.

As a result, since February, Geodis Logistics had been providing logistics services for Parrot, including customisation of equipment and assembling kits at one of its logistics hubs in the Paris region.

The products concerned were essentially hands–free systems for mobile phones and top–of–the–range multimedia products, destined to be sold in over 60,000 outlets worldwide. Services also included order management for 80 countries in the EMEA and Latin America zones, supplying the products to Certified Installer networks, automobile accessory manufacturers, non–food superstores and department stores.

"The technical complexity of our products and market considerations call for flawless distribution to our end customers," said Philippe Poussin, Parrot's Chief Production and Quality Officer at the contract signing. "We are convinced that Geodis Logistics' familiarity with this sector will enable it to provide the required levels of quality."

January - Geodis Logistics and the Belgian service provider Nova Holding created a joint venture, which provided logistics services in the port of Antwerp.

Nova Natie, a Belgian logistics service provider, was a long-time group with family capitals, specialized in value-added logistics services for the consumer products, textile and high-tech sectors. It was one of the main logistics service providers set in the port of Antwerp, with nearly 250,000 sq m of warehouses with branch lines.

Geodis Logistics provided logistics services for for high-tech, automotive, health and consumer products. It owned 170 warehouses on 2,000,000 sq m in Europe, and benefited from Geodis group freight forwarding network, which covered 120 countries in the world, as well as from European distribution means from the Divisions Geodis Calberson and Geodis BM.

The new entity Geodis Nova Logistics was aiming at providing value-added logistics services directly in the port of Antwerp such as control of products, labelling, postponement, assembling, kitting, packaging and co-packing to the manufacturers and distributors.

SNCF Geodis operates a global network of oil and gas hubs which provide logistics services to the industry. These hubs are located in Houston in the US and Vitrolles in France. More hubs are planned in Antwerp, Belgium, and Dubai, UAE, with others mooted in China and South Africa.

In 2013, the company signed a €34m contract with Canadian based Caracal Energy Inc., which has a significant international role in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields.

Geodis Wilson announced the expansion of its global network of operating hubs dedicated to the oil and gas sector. In addition to existing hubs in Houston, US, and Vitrolles in France, the company opened a third hub in Singapore. Two more, in Antwerp, Belgium, and Dubai, UAE, were expected to be completed by the end of 2014 and a further two were planned for 2015 in China and South Africa.

The company stated that the development was in line with the strategic growth plan in its Industrial Projects division for the burgeoning oil and gas sector. Under the plan it expected to increase freight volumes by 50% within a year after opening the new hubs.

From its headquarters and primary oil and gas hub in Houston the company has developed its network of operational centres across the globe. The hub in Singapore was strategically located to service the oil and gas clusters in South East Asia. The North African region is served through its Vitrolles hub in the south of France. The centre in Antwerp was set to serve North Sea activities, Eastern Europe and Africa, while Dubai was to become Geodis Wilson’s oil and gas hub for the Middle East and South Asia.

September - The Industrial Projects division of international freight forwarder Geodis Wilson secured a 3 year contract with Caracal Energy Inc., an international player in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields.

Caracal Energy chose Geodis Wilson as its logistics partner for the exploration of a resource field in Chad, the company’s primary market. The deal included global freight forwarding activities by air and sea, planning and execution of inland logistics, customs clearance, as well as rail and road transportation through Chad and Cameroon. The contract was worth €34m, with an option to extend for an additional 2 years.

The Senior Vice President, Geodis Wilson Industrial Projects, comments: "We are extremely proud that Caracal Energy is placing its trust in us to operate this key business for them. It underlines our capabilities in oil & gas project logistics, which is one of our biggest differentiators in the market."

"Geodis Wilson has performed well over the past 18 months and continues to improve in areas that are particularly important to Caracal. Caracal looks forward to a productive relationship over the next 3 years", commented the Director of Procurement & Supply Chain at Caracal.

Logistics markets

October - Geodis Calberson announced it had won a contract to manage the warehousing and UK & Ireland distribution of product for Sogefi, a global supplier of original as well as aftermarket parts for the automotive industry.

The General Manager of Sogefi Aftermarket Division said: "Geodis, an established provider to the Sogefi Aftermarket Division in Europe with a proven ability to achieve high levels of delivery performance and distribution support, is now operating our aftermarket next day delivery service from a modern, future-ready distribution centre located at Lutterworth, East Midlands."

Geodis Calberson received product from Sogefi's plants in Wales and from central stock in Europe and managed stock-holding and same day order picking and dispatch. Orders were delivered next day delivery to factories across the UK, with Geodis' wholly-owned subsidiary the Fortec Distribution Network and a parcel carrier sharing the workload.

She added: "The decision to restructure our distribution service gives us a much better service level overall in the UK and Ireland. We are also confident that Geodis will ensure Sogefi achieves a robust and efficient next day service for all our distributor customers – including later order cut-off times."

September - Geodis announced that, as of October 6, it would begin making deliveries for Carrefour in Lille using a hybrid refrigerated trailer truck. A new initiative in Geodis' Distripolis urban logistics system, this first-of-its-kind service would mean deliveries to the six Carrefour stores in the Lille city centre would be both cleaner and quieter.

In May 2010, Geodis teamed up with Renault Trucks to test a unique hybrid vehicle equipped with a cryogenic refrigeration unit. The vehicle was proposed to several customers for testing, and the retailer Carrefour was first to request the new vehicle. A perfect fit with Carrefour's sustainable development strategy, this 26-tonne hybrid truck that complied with the Euro 5 standard would begin delivering goods to Carrefour stores in Lille starting in October.

The thermal engine–electric motor combo in hybrid trucks lowered diesel consumption by an average of 20%. This represented an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 10 tonnes. The use of liquid nitrogen, a non-toxic substance that emitted no CO2, as the refrigeration fluid made this vehicle even more environmentally friendly. This vehicle also had separate transport compartments, so both fresh produce and dry goods could be delivered. In addition, the cooling unit lowered the temperature twice as fast, making the truck particularly useful for the transport of vegetables.

Contract logistics represented 16% of SNCF Geodis' revenues in 2013. The company manages the outsourced logistics requirements of a large number of companies, particularly within Europe, such as Bayer, LG and Heineken.

May - Geodis Wilson announced that it had formed a joint venture partnership with the regional warehousing and distribution company Banz Group in Bahrain. The joint venture was to be based in Juffair, Bahrain, with administrative operations for contract logistics run from an 8,000 sq m warehouse facility. The warehouse included ambient, chilled and frozen storage space.

The Middle East Cluster Managing Director for Geodis Wilson said, “We are offering a full menu of freight services, including air, sea, road, sea–air and project forwarding. Geodis Wilson is also well–known for its provision of contract logistics and the Bahrain operation will deliver a wide range of services in this category; inbound and outbound logistics, customs clearance, cargo insurance, reverse logistics and other value–added services.”

“Servicing our customers where they grow is part of our dynamic business strategy,” said the Executive Vice President of Geodis Wilson. “This means increasing our footprint not only in the large and emerging economies, as we do in Brazil, India, China and also the US, but also in other dynamic regions, like the Middle East, where we already have a presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

June - Geodis Logistics, the logistics Division of SNCF Geodis, announced it would manage the road transport and logistics activities of LG Electronics in Italy for the next three years. LG Electronics provided consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances.

The project, which involved 40 people, would be operated from Castel San Giovanni (nearby Milan), where Geodis Logistics owned a 250,000 sq m logistics park. Geodis stated that more than 144,000 cu m of LG products would be managed at the site.

Under the terms of the contract, Geodis would provide warehousing, inbound and outbound distribution as well as reverse logistics services including returns management, repair, refurbishment and dismantling of stock.

"Geodis Logistics, thanks to the experience it has gained working side by side with leading high technology brands, has proven to be the most suitable partner for LG Electronics, with whom we signed an important three]year contract" commented the Geodis Logistics CEO.

He added, "Thanks to our know]how, we are able to offer our client LG a great amount of flexibility in order to follow enduring market evolution and the compression of products life. Such experience allowed us to integrate our offer with reverse logistics services, thus ensuring the correct management of the end of products life cycle."

April - SNCF Geodis had signed a three-year contract with Heineken to handle its logistics flows across France. Geodis already managed the transport of 30% of Heineken goods to customers and between the brewer's sites (Marseille in the south of France, Schiltigheim in the east of France and Mons-en-Baroeul in the north of France).

In a further reflection of the enhanced working relationship between Geodis and Heineken, the contract included part of the logistics flows for France Boissons, a Heineken subsidiary.

Geodis BM stated that the the strategic new contract marked its determination to develop multi-modal transport to tie in with the Heineken group's environmental policy. As part of that drive, Geodis would make significant use of combined rail-road transport.

In addition, Geodis BM had rolled out a singular multi-business coordination system to better manage anticipation stocks, seasonal variations and promotional periods through a new Transport Management System. The system covered transport order dispatch, operational service providers, service monitoring, the management of delivery appointments and load capacities by the shipping sites (breweries and warehouses), the management of last-minute orders, and the management of quality reporting and the performance of each person involved.

The Managing Director of Geodis BM, said: "We have been working alongside Heineken since 2008. Our key priority was to bring our customer a strategic flow management solution that fulfils its expectations and corresponds to its future needs. We are very proud to have won the trust of Heineken and to have made Geodis BM the leading partner of its supply chain in France."

December - After a partnership spanning eight years, Bayer Pharma was outsourcing all its pharmaceutical logistics to SNCF Geodis under a seven and a half-year contract.

Geodis had taken over all of Bayer's laboratory logistics operations in France at the Saint Georges de Reneins site north of Lyon. This platform of around 15,000 sq m carried out logistics operations such as incoming orders, quality control, storage, unit order picking, labelling, packaging and preparation of shipments.

Working from this automated site, Geodis processed all the health products distributed by Bayer to pharmacies and hospitals in metropolitan France and French overseas territories.

A Geodis company statement said: "Authorised for pharmaceutical warehousing in Europe, Geodis Logistics is consolidating its position on the European health market, through ten health market lines (warehousing, clean rooms, controlled temperatures, etc.) on premises of 200,000 sq m at the heart of pharmaceutical technology parks, with 600 employees, and around 15 pharmacists."

June - Mattel, the global toy products manufacturer, awarded Geodis the management of its logistics and distribution operations in southern Europe. This six-year contract included the reception of 3,000 sea containers per year from Asia, customs clearance, palletising, storage and the management of 1,800 references to be distributed in France, Spain, and Portugal.

To support the contract win, Geodis was setting up a 42,000 sq m warehouse in the Distriport area of Marseilles, France. By late 2013, the total area of the distribution centre would be brought up to 60,000 sq m.

This contract was part of a long-standing partnership between the two companies, as Geodis had been managing Mattel's North Europe distribution centre in Venlo, Netherlands, as well as two hubs in Tanjung Pelapas and Port Klang in Malaysia since 2007.

Geodis's Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are proud and honoured by this expansion and strengthening of the partnership developed with a client as prestigious as Mattel. This partnership is based on our expertise in the toy products industry, the reliability of our solutions, and our ability to duplicate our operational excellence to better serve Mattel, in Europe and around the world."

September - The Geodis Group strengthened its position on the healthcare market and consolidated its offering with the acquisition of the pharmaceutical pre-wholesaler Pharmalog.

Pharmalog was a pharmaceuticals logistics and distribution company based in Val de Reuil in Normandy, France. It had 50,000 sq m of storage space and a workforce of 150. Pharmalog had revenue of €18m.

The new entity would carry out a full range of value-added operations: sales administration, customer debt recovery, repackaging, management of free medical samples, etc. It had nine specialised platforms in France (warehouses, clean rooms, controlled temperature premises, etc.) a workforce of almost 500 employees.

In the long term, this organisation would be deployed Europe-wide, based on operations already carried out for the health sector by Geodis Logistics in Benelux, Ireland and Italy. At the same time, Pharmalog customers would gain access to all the dedicated services in logistics, distribution and international transport delivered by the Geodis Group to healthcare professionals.

The CEO of Geodis, said: "This new vertical offering places Geodis among the top three players in healthcare logistics in France, as well as opening broad new prospects in Europe. This organisation will bring real benefits for customers since it is a close fit with the services developed by the cross-cutting entity Geodis Global Solutions and the other divisions of the Geodis Group: Groupage & Express, Contract Logistics, Freight Management and Road."

March - Geodis Logistics, through recently acquired Italian company Bertola Servizi Logistici (BSL), signed a six year agreement with YOOX Group for the supply of integrated logistics services to the new highly-automated global operations and distribution platform in Interporto Bologna.

Geodis Logistics would manage YOOX Group’s supply chain, coordinating the handling and shipping activities for fashion items (garments on hangers and flat garments), as well as inventory management related to footwear and fashion accessories in the storage, packaging, shipping and return management phases.

A dedicated team of 68 people would work on the project using the most modern storage systems.

“In 2011 we began a partnership with one of the leaders in Internet fashion and design retail. The agreement signed with YOOX Group confirms the role of Geodis as a global provider of logistics services at both the national and international level – said Aurelio Zilio, BSL CEO.

March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

February - SNCF Geodis won a contract with DIY retailer Castorama to provide home deliveries of website orders in France. The new, three-year contract further strengthened the collaborative effort in transport and logistics services started by the two groups in 2005.

Geodis was using a new, 24,000 sq m warehouse in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier to handle Castorama's e-commerce business and manage the cross-docking activities required to deliver the customer's stores in the Lyon area.

The cross-docking operations provided since 2006 by Geodis at the Corbas site in the Rhône department were transferred to the Saint-Quentin-Fallavier warehouse for the new contract, and were used to supply continuous flows to the 19 Castorama stores in the Lyon area. The new contract had led to the creation of 36 new jobs at the new platform.

To respond to the diversity of the deliveries generated by Castorama's activities, Geodis had introduced special vehicles, including crane trucks for "heavy" equipment and vans for city centres, as well as two-person teams for special home-delivery operations.

The managing director of Geodis Logistics, commented: "The trust placed in us by Castorama underscores our expertise in e-commerce logistics. Through its capacity for innovation, Geodis provides the customer with a global solution adapted to its specific needs, particularly in terms of the size and type of goods".

Geodis had also handled multimodal rail-road transport between northern France and the Lyon area for Castorama since 2011.

March - Geodis Logistics – through the acquired company BSL – signed a six–year agreement with YOOX Group, an internet retailer of fashion products, for the supply of integrated logistics services to the global operations and distribution platform in Interporto, Bologna.

Geodis Logistics would manage YOOX Group's supply chain, coordinating the handling and shipping activities for fashion items (garments on hangers and flat garments), as well as inventory management related to footwear and fashion accessories in the storage, packaging, shipping and return management phases. A dedicated team of 68 people would work on the project.

Chief Executive Officer of Geodis, declared: "This important agreement with YOOX Group is representative of the capacity of Geodis to handle and face the needs and demands of the biggest players within the ecommerce sector in terms of innovation, perimeter covered and expertise."

"In 2011 we began a partnership with one of the leaders in Internet fashion and design retail. The agreement signed with YOOX Group confirms the role of Geodis as a global provider of logistics services at both the national and international level", said BSL CEO. "In April 2010 we became part of the Geodis Group, which has allowed us to expand our presence in the industry beyond Italy, while maintaining a close relationship with our customers".

September - European Healthcare Distribution Holding (EHDH), principal shareholder of Eurotranspharma, a provider of pharmaceutical and healthcare product transport solutions, announced that it had completed the acquisition of the CIBLEX express delivery network from Geodis.

EHDH and CIBLEX built an industrial development plan designed to bolster their respective service offerings in their dedicated markets. EHDH intended to further develop the CIBLEX network to deal with the demands of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry while retaining its express capability.

Under the plan the CIBLEX network continued to handle ambient temperature parcels under 30 kg. But in addition Eurotranspharma was to use it to handle all healthcare products over 30 kg as well as all temperature controlled deliveries. The companies claimed that this would create a multipurpose but specialised network.July - Geodis announced that it had signed an agreement with AF Logistics, a subsidiary of the Italian logistics company Ferrari, for the disposal of Züst Ambrosetti, Geodis’ Italian groupage express subsidiary, and the formation of a partnership between the two groups.

Under the agreement, AF Logistics would take over all the employees and of the operating sites of Züst Ambrosetti and maintain the company’s brand. In addition, Züst Ambrosetti would, as part of the Ferrari Group, be Geodis’ partner in Italy for groupage and express. Züst Ambrosetti would also continue to handle current transport from and to Geodis Logistics’ warehouses in Italy.

The disposal was part of Geodis’ strategic decision to strengthen the group’s groupage and express network in France and develop its business in Europe through partnerships. Through the agreement, Geodis would continue to guarantee its customers a service for their groupage needs in Italy.

While Geodis was withdrawing from direct involvement in groupage and express operations in Italy, the company would continue to develop its Italian freight forwarding, contract logistics and road freight activities through its Geodis Wilson, Geodis Logistics and Geodis BM divisions.

March - SNCF Geodis signed a contract to deliver spare parts for Liebherr Logistics, the global construction machinery manufacturer and operator, in France.

The agreement covered the shipment of spare parts from Germany for delivery to all parts of France. Geodis had designed a made-to-measure solution in partnership with Liebherr, to enable its customer to ship spare parts from Germany to depots and customers in France in just 24 hours. This solution, which relied on the France Express network, also concerned the delivery of spare parts directly to worksites, such as the high-speed rail worksites currently in progress.

Every day, six Geodis vehicles would leave the Liebherr warehouse in Kirchdorf an der Iller in Bade Wurtemberg, southern Germany, for the three express platforms operated by Geodis in Gennevilliers, Nancy and Corbas. The parcels were delivered the next day from these platforms to all parts of France.

On signing the contract, the Vice-President, Groupage and Express Geodis, said: "The trust placed in us by Liebherr highlights the capacity of Geodis to develop solutions tailored to specific needs, notably in terms of service quality and delivery times. The density of our network enables us to meet significant logistics challenges, as for Liebherr".

July - Geodis and Kiala formed an alliance that improved Geodis' express service offering. Kiala, as Europe’s number-one network of pick-up points covering five countries and the most complete network in France, joined forces to deliver a global transport and delivery service through a network of local relays.

As an alternative to its home deliveries, Geodis now offered a relay delivery service with nationwide next-day express deliveries before midday – and before 10 am for 16,000 localities – Saturdays included, through 5,000 local delivery points.

As of July 2011, Geodis operated a network of 112 France Express branches.

April - Geodis' acquisition of French parcels company Ciblex, announced on 17 March, was closed on April 22, with Ciblex becoming an integral part of the Groupage Division of the Geodis group. Ciblex will provide the Group's new "0-30 kg parcels" network.

The parcel service would broaden the Group's range of small parcel solutions, especially in e-commerce, health, optics, high-tech products and spare parts, sectors in which Ciblex plays a leading role. With a 700-strong workforce and more than 700 subcontractors, Ciblex was a specialised autonomous network able to manage late collections, up to 8 pm in Ile-de-France, for next-day deliveries before 8 am, 9 am, 10 am or midday, depending on the service required. The agreement will also round out the Geodis transport offering in Belgium.

March - Geodis acquired Ciblex, France's fourth-ranked groupage operator and a specialist in small parcel express delivery. Geodis said that it was pursuing several objectives through the acquisition.

It wished to:

reinforce its position in the parcel service, a market that had developed considerably over the last few years mainly with the growth of e-commerce in which Ciblex was a leading operator.

develop its technical expertise specific to parcel processing, relying on an independent network of more than 700 service providers.

improve its value-added services offer that met the needs of the Group's customers mainly in the sectors of e-commerce, healthcare, optical, high tech and spare parts.

complete the Geodis transport network in Benelux.

The director of the Groupage/Express division, said: "I would like to welcome the Ciblex teams, who share the same values, quality of service and respect of commitments, which are vital for our customers."

The deputy CEO of Geodis, concluded: "I am very pleased with this acquisition, which is part of our strategic priorities and enables us to enrich our global European service offering with specific expertise that will attract our international customers."

The Geodis Wilson logistics centre was located in Shanghai's Yangshan Free Trade Port Area. This was where 36,000 cu m of Delsey products for import and export would be handled yearly, as well as round-trip FCL trucking from Yangshan port to the distribution centre and Less Than Truckload (LTL) domestic distribution with a yearly volume of 4,000 cu m to Delsey customers in 37 cities in China.

Commenting on the contract success, the CEO of SNCF Geodis, said: “This contract highlights Geodis Wilson’s strong presence in China’s competitive transport and logistics market. Our innovative approach will allow Delsey to increase productivity, reduce business complexity and optimise their supply chains with a single, best in class logistics provider.”

Geodis Wilson announced it was expanding its trucking operations to include China, an extension of its existing routes through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Indochina region. The full cross–border route between Singapore and China covers a total distance of 5,950 km and has a lead–time of 6–7 days.

Customers would be able to choose between full container load (FCL) services, or less than container load (LCL) services. FCL containers would be sealed from door–to–door and opened only if required by border customs, while LCL containers would be consolidated at Geodis Wilson facilities along the route, and fed into the main road network by regional trucks.

"One distinctive element of our cross border trucking product is the range of security measures. They enable us to monitor and protect cargoes and help to ensure that our clients' goods can be delivered on time. This includes solid contingency mechanisms, for instance in case of severe weather, complex customs clearing or for accident prevention", said Geodis Wilson's Regional Director Cross–Border Trucking.

November - Geodis Wilson announced that it would open a distribution centre in Thailand which would be operational from the beginning of 2012.

The 96,900 sq ft facility is located in Sri Racha, 75 km from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, and 15 km from Laem Chabang Port.

July - Geodis Wilson announced it was opening an 8,500 sq m distribution centre in Jebel Ali South within the free zone of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The new distribution centre marked a strategic step in the company's global growth plan: extending its freight forwarding services to a full-service contract logistics model in the Middle East region.

"The demand for contract logistics is very high," said the Managing Director Geodis Wilson UAE. "Most companies trading via or in the Middle East need a hub solution for their business, and Dubai is undoubtedly the regional choice, with very good onward connections. Geodis Wilson runs its own freight network to cope with this demand, including trucking services between the various countries and a 24-hour on-line customs service."

Geodis Wilson invested about €1m into the Jebel Ali distribution centre, now providing a full range of supply chain solutions, including warehousing services, inventory, labelling, bar-coding, packing pouches, blisters, vendor management as well as domestic and cross border distribution.

New business included the handling of IBM hardware and spare parts for dispatch to other points in the Gulf region; including Abu Dhabi. For another global customer stationery and personal care products would be hubbed through the new centre, arriving from France in containers for storage and then distributed to 16 countries in the region including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Jordan and Syria.

July - Geodis Wilson announced the launch of a new vertical business unit dedicated to serving the logistics needs of luxury hotels and resorts and their suppliers worldwide. Geodis Wilson would provide dedicated integrated logistics solutions to this fast-growing market.

"Geodis Wilson expects to become a single-source shipping solution for many of the top-tier companies in this market," said Geodis Wilson's global director Luxury Hotel & Resort Logistics. "These highly recognisable brands and their entire supplier base want a dedicated logistics partner. We created this new business unit to ensure they receive the white-glove services they expect and require."

June - Geodis Wilson, the freight forwarding arm of SNCF Geodis, acquired US based One Source Logistics, a non-asset based freight broker that specialises in providing domestic transportation services focused on truckloads and less-than-truckloads.

“Taking over One Source Logistics is a first step in the company’s growth strategy in the U.S.,” said Philippe Gilbert, Geodis Wilson’s executive vice president. “With the extended link to domestic services in North America we are able to satisfy the needs of a wide range of our air freight and ocean freight clients.”

Geodis Wilson CEO Jean-Louis Demeulenaere said the company planned to at least double its freight forwarding business in the coming five years through external and organic growth.

Demeulenaere said the company’s focus on the American market had already proved a success with revenue of $1bn across the entire region.

August - Geodis Wilson expanded its Atlanta operations into a new, larger facility encompassing 84,000 sq ft (7,800 sq m). The Atlanta operation provided air freight, ocean freight, customs brokerage, domestic forwarding, warehousing & distribution and other freight management solutions. Geodis Wilson Atlanta was also a primary US air freight gateway to Europe, with regular consolidations. "The newly expanded Atlanta facility will be a model for future growth and expansion in the US market for Geodis Wilson," commented the Chief Operating Officer Eastern USA.

"The well established trend in manufacturing growth throughout the Southeast has been apparent for quite some time with increases in export and import activity," said the newly appointed Southeast US Regional Manager and acting Branch Manager for Atlanta. "With our newly expanded warehouse and gateway, and with our enhanced security and compliance programmes, we are in a prime position to service the market's continually growing freight transportation needs in the critical industries throughout the area including automotive, industrial manufacturing, fast moving consumer goods, aviation and furniture."

Geodis Wilson had also invested in the necessary infrastructure in Atlanta to become one of several new Certified Cargo Screening Facilities (CCSFs) in the United States. This investment provided Geodis Wilson with the equipment, facility, security enhancements and trained staff in order to provide shippers with a fast, efficient, secure, and predictable cost option for screening freight in compliance with the TSA's (Transportation Security Administration) new 100% cargo screening mandate for all passenger aircraft.

Geodis Wilson Atlanta served as the air freight gateway for the entire region, including Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and parts of Florida and Virginia.

March - SNCF Geodis acquired Bertola Servizi Logistici, becoming one of the top three Italian logistics players, it claimed.

Through the acquisition, Geodis doubled its storage area in Italy, where it already had 18 sites, and increased its presence in Veneto, the country’s second-most important logistics region.

With overall revenue of €400 million and a workforce of more than 2,000, Geodis became one of the leading multi-business-line service providers in Italy with a full service offering: groupage, full-truckload transport, contract logistics, freight forwarding, and 4PL.

Bertola specialises in sectors of strategic interest to Geodis, including FMCG, textiles, and automotive.

"With Bertola we welcome a team of skilled professionals at the management and workforce levels. They have built an excellent reputation in Italy through their high-quality services," says Jean-Louis Demeulenaere, CEO of Geodis. "This acquisition is in line with the Group’s strategy with a full-service offering in Italy."

February - Voies Navigables de France (VNF) and SNCF Geodis established a partnership agreement in an effort to promote the use of rail and waterways as a long-distance tranport method for goods.

The partnership tied in with the commitments in France’s Grenelle environmental initiative on increasing the share of goods transported by rail and waterway.

The agreement covered the resources to be implemented to generate synergies in existing long-distance goods flows, for example building materials. The partners would also work to identify the most appropriate and accessible multimodal platforms for the two transport modes and where necessary develop new, adapted platforms. All of the work achieved as part of the partnership would also concern major infrastructure programmes such as the Seine-Nord-Europe project. For the Paris region alone, the potential traffic concerned was estimated at some 10m tonnes a year.

October - Normandie Rail Services, a new local rail operator serving internal terminals at the port of Le Havre, started up full activity on October 1, 2011. Following the transfer of Naviland Cargo flows to the new operator in August, Normandie Rail Services began handling the port delivery activities of Fret SNCF.

Founded in August 2011, Normandie Rail Services was set up in August 2011 to manage port terminal services for rail companies at the port of Le Havre and Gravenchon. The company was created to respond to a need from the port authorities to develop rail transport and is notably part of the upcoming launch of a multimodal rail, sea and waterway platform at the site.

With the creation of Normandie Rail Services, Fret SNCF and Naviland Cargo, which already operated a large part of the rail services at the port of Le Havre, are pooling their expertise and teams to better meet the needs of the port and of transport and shipping companies. Normandie Rail Services will focus on port services, subcontracted by rail companies that coordinate the overall delivery of goods for their haulage and shipping customers and which will continue to handle all routes outside of the port perimeter.

Majority owned by SNCF Geodis, Normandie Rail Services has more than 100 employees, previously part of the teams at Fret SNCF and Naviland Cargo, who work under the collective labour agreement of the French rail sector. The company has four electric locomotives and five rail shunting vehicles and handles an estimated 20 trains a day.

In its master plan for a new environmental approach to goods transport, SNCF Geodis has committed to backing the emergence of local rail operators working as part of a complementary fit with the rail freight business of SNCF.

February - SNCF Geodis launched a new brand, CapTrain, covering its international rail haulage activities. The company said that the creation of CapTrain, following the acquisitions made over the last two years, had confirmed its objective to integrate and develop its various international activities.

September - The Industrial Projects division of Geodis Wilson secured a new three-year contract with Caracal Energy, an international player in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields.

Caracal Energy had chosen Geodis Wilson as its logistics partner for the exploration of a new resource field in Chad, the company's primary market. The deal included global freight forwarding activities by air and sea, planning and execution of inland logistics, customs clearance, as well as rail and road transportation through Chad and Cameroon. The contract was worth €34m, with an option to extend for an additional two years.

The Senior Vice President Industrial Projects at Geodis Wilson, commented: "We are extremely proud that Caracal Energy is placing its trust in us to operate this key business for them. It underlines our capabilities in oil & gas project logistics, which is one of our biggest differentiators in the market.

"We are known for delivering specialised transport solutions for the energy segment worldwide, as well as for mining companies, the petrochemical industry, infrastructure projects and the rail industry. Our Industrial Projects division is a strategic driver for our future growth," added the Executive Vice President at Geodis Wilson.

June - Geodis Wilson managed the transportation of two new wind turbine blades for its customer LM Wind Power on an Antonov AN-225, the biggest aircraft in the world. With a length of 42.1 m the blades were the longest cargo pieces that were ever flown by an aircraft.

Geodis Wilson was one of the logistics providers of LM Wind Power, a market leader in the international wind power industry, supplying rotor solutions to numerous wind turbine manufacturers in all main markets worldwide. The two transported prototype blades were produced for a new type of wind turbine that extends the possibility of efficient generation of clean energy.

Geodis Wilson's Industrial Projects division had built a specialist team to handle wind energy logistics. This transportation involved a full turn-key operation including inland transportation from the LM Wind Power manufacturing plant in Tianjin to Tianjin Airport, China, loading onto the world's largest freight aircraft AN-225, customs clearance, supervision of unloading and final delivery from the Skrydstrup Vojens Danish Military Airport (SKS), the only Danish airport capable of handling this large move.

"Our activities in the wind energy sector are well known in the market, but the move of these prototype blades of LM Wind Power allowed us to conquer a new level of complexity," said its Global Manager Wind Energy Projects. The Senior Vice President of Geodis Wilson Industrial Pojects added: "The fact that we have an established network presence in both China and Denmark, along with a dedicated air charter division, on-site expertise and technical support in this sector, certainly helped us to successfully manage this move for and together with LM Wind Power and Antonov Airlines."

June - Geodis Wilson announced the expansion of its Asia-Pacific operations to include domestic rail freight services in China, with intercontinental services between China and Europe also planned.

The company stated that the expanded operations were a strategic response to the growing demand for rail freight transport in China. Geodis Wilson stated it was considered a viable alternative to road transport because of its safe, efficient and environmentally friendly nature. "In Geodis Wilson we follow closely the development of this segment, particularly when it involves intercontinental connections between China and Europe", said the Executive Vice President of Geodis Wilson.

He added, "We are targeting customers who are looking for an alternative to airfreight with a longer lead time." Rail Transportation offered the advantage of lower costs versus air freight over medium to long distance routes. It was also the only transport mode offering an integrated transport network connecting seaports, hinterlands and economic zones over vast distances, and across political and geographical borders.

As part of a mixed rail, sea, air and road transportation solution, Geodis Wilson's new Chinese rail freight service would offer customised, flexible, and reliable door-to-door services. Shipment of goods on container block trains as well as all pre- and post-rail transportation services would be offered. These value-adds would include, pick-up, pre-carriage and on-carriage, reloading, control of trans-shipments, railway wagon planning, freight documentation and real-time tracking and tracing.

Geodis Wilson would also be launching services for 20 and 40 ft FCL (full container load) and break bulk from China to Central Asia, Mongolia, Russia and Europe. This built on its already existing services to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.

October - Fret SNCF announced that it had enhanced its multi-lots multi-clients, single wagon offer and extended it to international routes.

The extended service would connect beyond France's borders on the rail line connecting Woippy (France) and Antwerp (Belgium), ensuring an end-to-end service. From early 2013, Fret SNCF would also provide this end-to-end offer for all Franco-Swiss traffic carried by Fret SNCF and CFF, its historic partner in Switzerland.

The service possibilities in France were also extended. A direct link between Lyon and Mulhouse would be operational from the end of 2012, in addition to other domestic routes.

The overall expansion of the service would supplement the 23 existing links already offered. The increase in the number of destinations responded to the needs of manufacturers, particularly those in the chemical industry.

April - SNCF Geodis and Hupac had announced they were joining forces to expand their combined rail transport networks on the east-west European route via France and Belgium.

Starting in April 2012, Hupac and SNCF Geodis would combine their networks via the Anvers- Dourges line, run by SNCF Geodis. The route would link Hupac's European network with the French domestic combined transport routes operated by SNCF Geodis.

The company's announced that their customers would have access to a network of combined rail transport linking the Iberian Peninsula to the Far East with daily or weekly connections to eastern Germany (Schwarzheide), eastern Europe (Poland and Russia) and China.

In Hupac's shuttle network, Antwerp and Ludwigshafen were the platforms for intermodal links with Eastern Europe, Poland and Russia and as far as China. The new products would be marketed jointly by the two partners.

SNCF Geodis already ran the daily trains operated by Hupac between Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide. Cooperation between Hupac and the SNCF group began in 2007 with the launch of a jointly run train between Antwerp and Perpignan, which had now been extended to Barcelona.

"With SNCF Geodis we are developing the potential of combined transport across the whole continent of Europe, including the connections to and from Barcelona on the new UIC line and the establishment of links between France and Italy via Modane", stated the Managing Director of Hupac.

According to the CEO of SNCF Geodis, "this strategic agreement is a decisive step towards achieving our commitment to expanding rail goods transport in Europe. I am delighted with this partnership, which confirms our ambition for combined transport."

February - The director of Fret SNCF commented on the company's 2011 performance and the challenges it faced going in to 2012:

She affirmed that the company was still aiming to reach a break-even position by 2013-2014, "Last year (2011), we reduced operating losses to €337m compared with €427m in 2010 and we aim to reduce the deficit further in 2012.

She also commented on how Fret SNCF's loss-making single-wagon network would be restructured:

"There was a pressing need to address the “non-sustainability” of our single-wagon network and at the end of 2010 we replaced it, launching a “multi-load, multi-clients” (MLMC) service.

"We now have more direct routes and fewer interconnections, and customers benefit from greater transparency. We have stopped serving those points on the network that were complicated operationally and rarely used."

Following the restructure of the single-wagon business, losses had fallen to under €100m and the company planned to achieve break-even in 2013.

"Commenting on how the global recession had impacted Fret SNCF, she remarked: "There was a sizeable decline in the volume of traffic from end-2008 onwards. In the years leading up to the crisis we were transporting around 40 bn tonne/km annually. Last year, our traffic totalled 23bn tonne/km which was up slightly on 2010.

"We are a far leaner operation now, having shed 25% of our workforce between end-2009 and end-2011 and reduced our locomotive fleet by 23%. Over the same period, our turnover has decreased by 13%, so we have become more productive. Downsizing could continue as we seek greater productivity gains."

She also cited other factors for the company's continuing financial struggles: "Along with other operators, we have also been hit badly by serious difficulties in obtaining train slots on the French rail network, largely due to a vast programme of modernisation work being carried out and which is set to last until 2015.

"The choice was made to carry out most of this work at night, when the majority of freight trains operate, so as to limit the impact on passenger services. The train slots “crisis” dogged us throughout 2011 and unfortunately is continuing in 2012."

She added that intermodal traffic was suffering the most due to these delays, due to the fact that it is the most time-sensitive because trucks must synchronise with the arrival of trains.

Commenting on whether 2012 would be a year of more favourable market conditions, she said that, "The slowdown which kicked in last autumn is still with us and shippers are telling us there is little or no market visbility. It will continue to be a rocky ride, but I remain optimistic that Fret SNCF is on the right track and will be able to take full advantage when things do pick up.

January - SNCF Geodis’ financial results continued to be weighed down by its main rail freight subsidiary, Fret SNCF.

The state-owned group announced a 2011 global turnover of more than €9.4bn, an increase of 6% on the previous year.

Turnover from the rail freight division which included Fret SNCF as well as other subsidiaries, increased 4.2%, due largely to European development.

However, according to union sources, Fret SNCF was in the red to the tune of €340m in 2011, following a €427m loss the previous year.

While these figures had not been confirmed by SNCF Geodis, group chief Pierre Blayau told a French newspaper Fret SNCF’s operating losses last year had exceeded €300m.

“We would have done better, but were penalised by two factors,” he said. “In 2011, like all rail freight operators, we had serious problems in obtaining the train slots we were looking for, due to repair and maintenance work on the [French] rail network.

“Secondly, we felt the effect of some organisational issues at [network manager] RFF. On some south-east and south-west routes, capacity on the network was inferior to that of 2007.”

Blayau said Fret SNCF’s performance also continued to be impacted by labour conditions, its workers having state sector status.

“We don’t apply the same employment agreements as our competitors, and if we did we’d reduce our costs by 25%,” he said.

“For 2012, the objective is to reduce our costs by 15-20% on the basis of traffic volumes remaining the same. We continue to eye a break-even position [for Fret SNCF] by 2013-2014,” he added.

One area of the business where Fret SNCF has succeeded in reducing losses is single-wagon traffic, following major restructuring and a completely redesigned offering.

October - Normandie Rail Services, a new local rail operator serving internal terminals at the port of Le Havre, started up full activity on October 1, 2011. Following the transfer of Naviland Cargo flows to the new operator in August, Normandie Rail Services began handling the port delivery activities of Fret SNCF.

Founded in August 2011, Normandie Rail Services was set up in August 2011 to manage port terminal services for rail companies at the port of Le Havre and Gravenchon. The company was created to respond to a need from the port authorities to develop rail transport and is notably part of the upcoming launch of a multimodal rail, sea and waterway platform at the site.

With the creation of Normandie Rail Services, Fret SNCF and Naviland Cargo, which already operated a large part of the rail services at the port of Le Havre, are pooling their expertise and teams to better meet the needs of the port and of transport and shipping companies. Normandie Rail Services will focus on port services, subcontracted by rail companies that coordinate the overall delivery of goods for their haulage and shipping customers and which will continue to handle all routes outside of the port perimeter.

Majority owned by SNCF Geodis, Normandie Rail Services has more than 100 employees, previously part of the teams at Fret SNCF and Naviland Cargo, who work under the collective labour agreement of the French rail sector. The company has four electric locomotives and five rail shunting vehicles and handles an estimated 20 trains a day.

In its master plan for a new environmental approach to goods transport, SNCF Geodis has committed to backing the emergence of local rail operators working as part of a complementary fit with the rail freight business of SNCF.

September - The French state transport operator’s rail freight subsidiary, Fret SNCF, suffered a major body blow, losing a long-standing contract with key customer Gefco, the logistics arm of carmaker PSA Peugeot-Citroen.

Gefco said that it was not renewing the contract “as a result of Fret SNCF’s new multi-load, multi-customer service not meeting expectations”.

Nevertheless, Fret SNCF subsidiary Captrain would continue to carry automotive components for Gefco between its plant at Vesoul, in Eastern France, and Kalaga a fast-developing car manufacturing centre in Western Russia, said Gefco.

From the new year, Gefco said it would be sharing the former Fret SNCF business between three private French rail freight operators: Euro Cargo Rail, a Deutsche Bahn subsidiary, Europorte (Eurotunnel) and Colas Rail.

The loss of one of its top-five key accounts constituted a body blow to the operator, which had seen its traffic diminish as a result of the opening-up of competition in the sector in France and compounded by the economic downturn.

It is almost certain to compromise the company’s recovery plans which make provision for attaining a financial break-even position in 2013. The company had made heavy losses, year on year, over the past decade.

According to figures from rail network manager Reseau Férré de France (RFF), the market share of French private rail freight operators increased to 23% in the first six months of 2011, compared with 18% a year earlier.

July - SNCF Geodis wholly acquired Ermewa, a major European player in wagon rental, operation and maintenance for the transport of hazardous and non-hazardous liquid, gas and solid products.

At the time of the completion of the acquisition, Ermewa owned a fleet of 60,000 wagons, 23,000 containers and 16,000 small containers.

Ermewa became part of the Asset Management entity of SNCF Geodis.

February - SNCF Geodis launched a new brand, CapTrain, covering its international rail haulage activities. The company said that the creation of CapTrain, following the acquisitions made over the last two years, had confirmed its objective to integrate and develop its various international activities.

June - Parrot, a leader in wireless peripherals for mobile telephony, awarded the management of its supply chain and reverse logistics to Geodis Logistics. Following a call for tender launched in 2009, Geodis Logistics concluded a contract with Parrot covering stock management, equipment customisation and reverse logistics for its products. The award involved a multi–year contract to manage the key stages of the company's supply chain.

As a result, since February, Geodis Logistics had been providing logistics services for Parrot, including customisation of equipment and assembling kits at one of its logistics hubs in the Paris region.

The products concerned were essentially hands–free systems for mobile phones and top–of–the–range multimedia products, destined to be sold in over 60,000 outlets worldwide. Services also included order management for 80 countries in the EMEA and Latin America zones, supplying the products to Certified Installer networks, automobile accessory manufacturers, non–food superstores and department stores.

"The technical complexity of our products and market considerations call for flawless distribution to our end customers," said Philippe Poussin, Parrot's Chief Production and Quality Officer at the contract signing. "We are convinced that Geodis Logistics' familiarity with this sector will enable it to provide the required levels of quality."

The following companies are responsible for the management of SNCF's fleet of freight trains, which includes leasing operations:

•Akiem

•Ermewa.

Geodis, which forms part of the ‘global offerings’ division of SNCF Geodis, operates two road freight businesses:

Geodis Calberson

Geodis Calberson has a network of 300 sites covering 25 countries in Europe. It offers a range of services including: groupage, express, parcels, part and full loads and specialist distribution.

•Geodis Calberson - groupage

•France Express - domestic express transport

•Geodis Euromatic - specialist distribution Parcel network - with the acquisition of Ciblex, this service meets the needs of e-commerce, as well as the sectors of health products, optics, advanced technology and spare parts.

The Groupage division offers three different services: domestic groupage, letters and parcels (in cooperation with La Poste) and international groupage (consolidate shipments of 3 tonnes or less). The Groupage division includes all the Geodis Group's French subsidiaries operating in the Groupage and Express transport businesses, the Groupage & Distribution businesses in Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany as well as the Euromatic distribution network operating in France and Belgium.

The France-based company was established in 1904 and became part of the Geodis Group in 1994, which was subsequently wholly acquired by SNCF in August 2008.

May - The SNCF Geodis group expanded its groupage offering in Europe with an exclusive three-year partnership with Spanish company Buytrago.

Geodis Calberson now relied on Buytrago for distribution to and from Spain and Portugal, while Buytrago relied on Geodis Calberson for deliveries across Europe.

Buytrago had operated in the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 70 years. It employed 1,900 people and handled an annual average of 5.5m shipments via a network of over 60 depots.

The two companies had implemented their partnership gradually in countries where Geodis handled its own groupage business, starting in the UK in January 2012 and followed by Italy in February and Belgium and France in April.

The partnership was part of Geodis' strategy to develop its distribution activity in Europe and consistent with the company's objective to have European business account for 30% of global revenue by 2016. The Chief Executive Officer of Geodis, said: "The agreement with Buytrago demonstrates Geodis' ambition to strengthen its position in Europe and opens up broad prospects for us. It is a real asset for our customers since we share the same values on operational standards and customer satisfaction with Buytrago."

April - SNCF Geodis acquired MF Cargo, a transport business serving FMCG and retail clients in Hungary. MF Cargo was complementary to Geodis Hungary, the company previously served as a transport subcontractor for Geodis.

Geodis announced that the acquisition would provide it with a "true national distribution network in Hungary" and improve its capabilities for transporting international flows among the countries adjoining the European Union. The company hoped that the acquisition would enable it to become the local leader in FMCG and retail logistics.

MF Cargo had estimated revenue of €21m in 2011. The company had a fleet of 154 tractors and 169 semi-trailers and employed 212 people.

The CEO of Geodis, concluded: "I am very pleased with this acquisition. It advances our strategic priorities and enables us to broaden our capabilities with specific expertise and assets that will attract key clients in Hungary and more generally in Eastern and central Europe."

June - Geodis Calberson expanded its services in the UK with the opening of a new logistics facility in Birmingham to handle inbound and outbound European cargo for its premium Eurotop and Eurofirst services.

The opening of the Birmingham international facility coincided with the launch of the company's new daily run to and from Italy that offered customers 72 hour door-to-door services for Eurotop and Eurofirst.

The new facility would handle all the company's import and export freight movements that were previously managed by Watford Gap.

The company said that Watford Gap would continue to handle the Fortec Distribution Network, the palletised side of Geodis Calberson's operations in the UK.

"This move allows both the UK pallet business and our European services to continue to flourish. These are exciting times for Geodis Calberson," said Geodis Calberson MD Jamie Cuthbert.

The Birmingham hub is built over 1,860 sq m on four acres of land and is located on the Middlemore Industrial Estate close to UK's motorway network, it offers storage space for around 1,500 pallets.

SNCF Geodis provides service parts logistics support for the automotive industry.

For example, the company's groupage division, Geodis Calberson, signed a contract in 2012 to manage the warehousing and UK & Ireland distribution of product for Sogefi, a global supplier of original and aftermarket car parts.

October - Geodis Calberson announced it had won a contract to manage the warehousing and UK & Ireland distribution of product for Sogefi, a global supplier of original as well as aftermarket parts for the automotive industry.

The General Manager of Sogefi Aftermarket Division said: "Geodis, an established provider to the Sogefi Aftermarket Division in Europe with a proven ability to achieve high levels of delivery performance and distribution support, is now operating our aftermarket next day delivery service from a modern, future-ready distribution centre located at Lutterworth, East Midlands."

Geodis Calberson received product from Sogefi's plants in Wales and from central stock in Europe and managed stock-holding and same day order picking and dispatch. Orders were delivered next day delivery to factories across the UK, with Geodis' wholly-owned subsidiary the Fortec Distribution Network and a parcel carrier sharing the workload.

She added: "The decision to restructure our distribution service gives us a much better service level overall in the UK and Ireland. We are also confident that Geodis will ensure Sogefi achieves a robust and efficient next day service for all our distributor customers – including later order cut-off times."

Supply Chains

December - After a partnership spanning eight years, Bayer Pharma was outsourcing all its pharmaceutical logistics to SNCF Geodis under a seven and a half-year contract.

Geodis had taken over all of Bayer's laboratory logistics operations in France at the Saint Georges de Reneins site north of Lyon. This platform of around 15,000 sq m carried out logistics operations such as incoming orders, quality control, storage, unit order picking, labelling, packaging and preparation of shipments.

Working from this automated site, Geodis processed all the health products distributed by Bayer to pharmacies and hospitals in metropolitan France and French overseas territories.

A Geodis company statement said: "Authorised for pharmaceutical warehousing in Europe, Geodis Logistics is consolidating its position on the European health market, through ten health market lines (warehousing, clean rooms, controlled temperatures, etc.) on premises of 200,000 sq m at the heart of pharmaceutical technology parks, with 600 employees, and around 15 pharmacists."

News

Geodis Wilson has announced the expansion of its global network of operating hubs dedicated to the oil and gas sector. In addition to existing hubs in Houston, US, and Vitrolles in France, the company has opened a third hub in Singapore. Two more, in Antwerp, Belgium, and Dubai, UAE, are expected to be complete by the end of 2014 and a further two are planned for 2015 in China and South Africa.

The company states that the development is in line with the strategic growth plan in its Industrial Projects division for the burgeoning oil and gas sector. Under the plan it expects to increase freight volumes by 50% within a year after opening the new hubs.

From its headquarters and primary oil and gas hub in Houston the company has developed its network of operational centres across the globe. The new hub in Singapore is strategically located to service the oil and gas clusters in South East Asia. The North African region is served through its Vitrolles hub in the south of France. The upcoming centre in Antwerp will serve North Sea activities, Eastern Europe and Africa, while Dubai will become Geodis Wilson´s oil and gas hub for the Middle East and South Asia.

European Healthcare Distribution Holding (EHDH), principal shareholder of Eurotranspharma, a provider of pharmaceutical and healthcare product transport solutions, announced that it has completed the acquisition of the CIBLEX express delivery network from Geodis.

EHDH and CIBLEX have built an industrial development plan designed to bolster their respective service offerings in their dedicated markets. EHDH intends to further develop the CIBLEX network to deal with the demands of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry while retaining its express capability.

Under the plan the CIBLEX network will continue to handle ambient temperature parcels under 30 kg. But in addition Eurotranspharma will use it to handle all healthcare products over 30 kg as well as all temperature controlled deliveries. The companies claim that this will create a multipurpose but specialised network.

BPI France and a bank pool are providing financial backing for EHDH's development in order to implement the group's investment strategy.

Geodis announced that it has signed an agreement with AF Logistics, a subsidiary of the Italian logistics company Ferrari, for the disposal of Züst Ambrosetti, Geodis´ Italian groupage express subsidiary, and the formation of a partnership between the two groups.

Under the agreement, AF Logistics will take over all the employees and of the operating sites of Züst Ambrosetti and maintain the company´s brand. In addition, Züst Ambrosetti will, as part of the Ferrari Group, be Geodis´ partner in Italy for groupage and express. Züst Ambrosetti will also continue to handle current transport from and to Geodis Logistics´ warehouses in Italy.

The disposal is part of Geodis´ strategic decision to strengthen the group´s groupage and express network in France and develop its business in Europe through partnerships. Through the agreement, Geodis will continue to guarantee its customers a service for their groupage needs in Italy.

While Geodis is withdrawing from direct involvement in groupage and express operations in Italy, the company will continue to develop its Italian freight forwarding, contract logistics and road freight activities through its Geodis Wilson, Geodis Logistics and Geodis BM divisions.

Geodis announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its subsidiary Geodis Ciblex to Eurotranspharma, a transport company specialising in healthcare logistics owned by European Healthcare Distribution Holding (EHDH). Under the agreement Eurotranspharma will assume control of the entire Ciblex network and continue operations under the Ciblex brand.

"Our decision to sell Ciblex is the result of a clear strategy to position our business in the mail and express market, building on a high quality of service and the strength of our network ," said Marie– Christine Lombard, Chairman of the Executive Board of Geodis. "Our choice of EHDH was based on their offer of a proposed future structured around four pillars; a clear strategy, business development, strengthening know–how and investment projects. This deal allows the preservation of Ciblex´s network and related jobs."

EHDH stated that this acquisition will enable it, and its clients, to benefit from the injection of new initiatives, new efficient IT functions, air deliveries and a robust customer service structure.

EHDH will develop the two networks separately. However, the Eurotranspharma network will offload part of its 0–30 kg non–temperature–controlled freight to the CIBLEX network. In parallel, plans to open six Eurotranspharma depots on the Ciblex sites are already under way.

The completion of this project is subject to approval by the competent administrative authorities.

Briefs

Since 2010, Chinese cities including Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Yiwu have introduced freight train services to European and Central Asian destinations – particularly as manufacturing moves westward into China. As such, 3PL providers such as DHL, DB Schenker, TNT, Geodis, Hellmann and UPS have launched logistics services to take advantage of this alternate freight transport mode.

As a means to stimulate economic growth, the Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to take this apparent success story of linking China and Europe by rail a step further by revisiting the ancient Silk Road. In late 2013, the Chinese President proposed the idea of a “Silk Road Economic Belt” and has since received agreements from over 20 countries along the proposed route to study and collaborate on such an entity.

According to a map from Chinese publication, Xinhua, the land–based Silk Road Economic Belt will begin in China’s Xi'an, stretching west through Chinese cities Lanzhou, Urumqi, and Khorgas before running southwest across Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe where it will meet up with the maritime Silk Road in Venice, Italy.

The sea–based Maritime Silk Road will run through the Chinese cities of Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Beihai, and Haikou to the Malacca Strait and Indian Ocean and along the Horn of Africa before entering the Red Sea and Mediterranean.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been promoting the Silk Road Economic Belt concept throughout Asia, the Middle East/Africa and Europe. If the concept is embraced by all potentially affected countries, it could mean an interesting change in global and regional trade as well as logistics dynamics.

At a recently held forum in China to discuss this topic, Tong Daochi, assistant minister of commerce said, “We will focus on expanding open markets and deepening services in customs, quality assurance, e–commerce and transit transportation.” He also noted China would import more energy resources and agricultural products from countries along the route.

Kazakhstan has embraced the concept and has spent heavily on creating its “Western Europe–Western China” road network which is scheduled to be operational in 2015. Logistics providers such as DHL Freight and Agility have established offices in this Central Asian country as growth expectations remain strong thanks to the region’s natural resources and as an emerging market with much potential.

There is great opportunity for this potential trade route. However, not surprisingly parts of the route are politically volatile as well as prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes. Thus, companies will need to be cautioned and be well prepared for such supply chain risks. Finally, if it does indeed become a reality, global trade lane shifts could likely be focussed away from the Americas.

The deal extends SEGRO's move into the logistics property sector. The company which is structured as a 'REIT' (Real Estate Investment Trust') now owns a portfolio split across the continent with one third of its capital invested in Poland, just under one third in France and Germany with smaller amounts in the Czech Republic and the Benelux. Grouped together within 'SEGRO European Logistics Partnership' (SELP), the developments are generally new, with 80% being completed within the past five years and one– in Leipzig– yet to be finished. The newly acquired property includes a substantial proportion based in Germany, accounting for more than half of the value of the deal including warehousing complexes in Hamburg, Leipzig, Berlin and Ingolstadt.

On its creation last year SELP was "seeded with €974 million of logistics assets and land", with this latest acquisition expanding that to €1.5bn including "2.3 million sq m of lettable space as well as 135 hectares of land, of which 22 hectares are already under development".

SELP is a joint venture between SEGRO and the Canadian pension fund managers PSP Investment, the latter extending Canadian pension funds appetite for investments in logistics orientated infrastructure . Its objective is to create what its calls "a leading Continental European logistics platform". At its initiation SELP stated that its objective was to expand through organic growth or acquisition to at least €2bn worth of assets in the "coming years", which may imply further acquisitions.

SEGRO said that the customer base for the newly acquired properties was similar to that of its existing one, with major logistics providers such as "Deutsche Post, Kuehne and Nagel Group, DB Schenker and Geodis" as tenants.

Asia–Pacific is a region undertaking a significant transformation. Long known as the manufacturing centre of the world, the region is now adapting to changes brought forth by the "new" global economy. With rising operations costs, declining airfreight volumes, ocean freight over–capacity and declines in manufacturing activity, some have questioned whether the region is losing its competitive advantage. On the contrary, these changes are creating new opportunities.

For example, as manufacturers move further inland, the cost to transport goods to ports and airports may increase. Alternative solutions have been introduced by logistics providers such as DHL, DB Schenker and Geodis Wilson who have introduced road transport solutions connecting Asia to Europe. Hewlett–Packard has been using this alternative solution and has shipped more than 4m notebook computers from to Europe by train since 2011.

Industry–specific solutions are also on the rise. These solutions, such as UPS' life–sciences distribution centres and DHL's fashion centre of excellence are designed to meet not only the international markets, but also the growing intra–Asia markets. In fact, the growing intra–Asia markets have also triggered the need for warehousing and distribution centres. During the first half of 2013, such companies as Kerry Logistics, Yusen Logistics and the Goodman Group have opened such facilities.

South–east Asia is also presenting increased opportunities. As this region works towards becoming a united economic entity in 2015, infrastructure projects and a rising middle class are encouraging growth. Norbert Dentressangle, CEVA and FedEx Trade Networks are among the logistics providers who have already expanded into this region.

Over the past years, Asia–Pacific has led the world as the centre of outsourcing. Now, as global economics change once again, it is, once more, reinventing itself. While manufacturing will continue to play a major role, this region is likely to emerge as the world's largest consumer market thanks to 60% of the world's total population residing in this region. As such, industry leaders and logistics providers will continue to invest in this region.

To illustrate the changing region, Ti is pleased to announce a new addition to its Logistics Monitor series – Asia–Pacific Quarterly Logistics Monitor. This latest addition reviews and analyses the logistics and transportation market and its providers within the region, including such topics as economics and trade, the air, ocean and road freight markets, warehousing and distribution and industry–specific solutions.

For more information on the Asia–Pacific Quarterly Logistics Monitor or on the series, please contact Holly Francis, E: hfrancis@transportintelligence.com or T: +44 (0) 1666 519907.

John Manners–Bell MSc FCILT, CEO of Transport Intelligence, recently spoke at the Motor Transport Directors' Club lunch at Multimodal 2013, regarding the state of Europe's road freight industry. In his speech he described the growth of the market and developments and trends such as company bankruptcies and the rising cost of diesel, before reaching some interesting conclusions.

Below is a transcription of the speech John Manners–Bell gave at Multimodal 2013:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to have been invited here to speak on the state of Europe's road freight industry. I worked for more than 10 years managing a small family freight company and therefore I have a very good idea of the problems and challenges faced by independent operators. At the other end of the scale, I also worked for several years for UPS Logistics Group, which gave me a very different, 'big company' perspective.

However big or small, the industry faces some major challenges: congestion, competition, the increasing burden of bureaucracy and a government which has many other priorities. I know this from the time I advised the UK shadow ministerial team on road freight policy, and the great difficulty we had in getting these issues onto the political agenda.

Today, I want to provide an independent analysis of how the sector is performing – and the main drivers of the industry.

Firstly, I'm going to talk about the market growth in terms of revenues and some of the reasons behind the growth; secondly, I want to talk a little about profit margins and what drives them; and thirdly, I'm going to take on the thorny subject of company bankruptcies and the rising cost of diesel, with some conclusions which may surprise you.

How have companies performed?

Firstly, let's look at how the major European operators performed in terms of revenues. After a stronger 2011, revenue growth came right down in 2012.

If I had been standing here a year ago, I would have characterised the industry as being split between a stronger Northern Europe and a weak Southern Europe. However, in the past few months the economic contagion of Spain, Italy and Greece has spread. Now all the major road freight companies are complaining about difficult markets, including those in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe – previously the growth powerhouses of the industry. Here's a snapshot of the majors' company results.

DHL

The Freight business unit generated revenue of €4.19bn in 2012, a 0.7% increase over the 2011 result

Volumes declined in Scandinavia and the Benelux countries, however higher revenue was generated in Germany and Eastern Europe.

DSV

Organic revenue growth declined by 1.0%. The European road transport market continued to be adversely impacted by the economic crisis, with freight volumes declining throughout the year in Southern Europe, while Northern European and Eastern European markets suffered, particularly in the second half of the year. Decreasing activity in key markets such as Germany and Sweden particularly affected DSV Road.

Geodis

Road haulage revenues fell by 4.8%.

Norbert Dentressangle

Transport business segment remained resilient with revenue of €2.04bn, an increase of 3.7% year–on–year

The company singled–out its pallet distribution business as performing particularly well. The company did admit to losing volumes from some key customers, but said that it had gained market share overall.

Dachser

European Logistics contributed €2.6bn to the group's revenue, closing the fiscal year with a slight growth of 1.4%

Kuehne + Nagel noted that growth in the European road transport market stagnated. In particular the French and German markets, which were important for this business segment, suffered from the fall in demand in the second half of the year

Providers in the business were exposed to competition and heavy price pressure, which was due to high fuel costs, increased salary costs and the continuing shortage of transport capacity in the local delivery sector

In 2012, the segment reported a 6% increase in revenues.

Looking at the sector as a whole, if we adjust for inflation, average revenues are where they were in 2007. We are also hearing reports of low and unpredictable consumer demand which may be affecting inventory policy. If so, this would represent a major cause of volatility in the road freight market.

Rates

Now you might expect with a flat–lining market, that rates would have been stagnant as well. However, this is not the case. Using a Road Freight Price Index which we at Ti have developed in conjunction with Freightex, it can be seen that European road freight rates have now surpassed the peak seen in 2008, just prior to the first recession.

It may be slightly surprising given that we are now in the second stage of the double–dip recession that rates have not shown renewed weakness. We'll come onto the reasons for this shortly.

What drives profit margins?

Let's now turn our attention to the health of the industry and by that I mean its profitability. We've been tracking profit margins over the last ten years. For most of that time, they have remained around the 3.5% mark, although they dropped down markedly in the financial crisis of 2008–9 to about 2.5%. So the question that must be asked is 'what drives profit margins?'

This is an area in which we have done a substantial amount of work. For a start – and perhaps very surprisingly – we found that margins were not particularly influenced by the price of fuel.

It is generally assumed that rising fuel costs are not helpful for road freight operators, as they find it difficult to pass these charges on to customers. Generally the increases are handled better by the larger players, many of whom have agreements in place which result in surcharges being passed on directly. Smaller players either do not have these mechanisms in place or do not have the bargaining power to increase their rates in line with fuel pump costs.

One way in which it is possible to test how well the market as a whole is able to pass on fuel cost increases to their customers is by examining the correlation between fuel costs and rates. If rates rise in line with changes in the price of diesel, it could be concluded that freight operators are successfully passing on these costs to their customers. In fact, from the high correlation (0.85) this does indeed seem to be the case.

This is not to say that freight operators do not bear pain. There are significant cash flow implications (especially for medium–sized or small players) which have to outlay significant sums of money up–front for diesel oil. The greater proportion of their cost base which fuel makes up, the larger the problem, as it can take up to 90 days for a haulier to re–coup from customers the amounts paid out.

Stronger link between margins and sales volume growth

So if profits are not materially impacted by rising fuel costs, what are they affected by? Rather than just looking at input costs, we ran a correlation between volumes and margins, using as our proxy retail sales volume growth. The correlation in this case was much higher than between margins and fuel, suggesting that the most important factor for freight transport companies is freight throughput.

Freight operators are able to make money once a 'break–even' point has been reached on each vehicle or on a network. This break even factor is of course influenced by input costs and freight rates. Our research seems to show that operators are good at managing the break–even point by passing on increasing costs (or at least a proportion of them) to customers through higher rates.

However, they are less able to control volumes, especially when the industry is impacted by wider economic crisis. This seems to be the major reason behind fluctuations in profit margins.

Company failures

Let's now turn our attention to company failures and we can see a complicated picture emerging. As we have seen, an endemic lack of profitability characterises the European haulage industry. The logical conclusion of this is that there is a high probability of companies going out of business when faced by any economic headwind. After all, from the operating profit, the company has to pay:

interest and taxes

provide funds for investment in the business

and provide a shareholder dividend.

If all the fleet is on operating leases and there are no assets this might be sustainable, but on most models a 3.5% margin would not be enough to sustain an asset based trucking business in the long term.

Now anecdotal evidence suggests that, at the bottom of the market – if you can call it that – there is a continual churn of self–employed owner–drivers who work for and are, in some cases, 'burnt out' by larger companies.

These owner–drivers have very little idea of depreciating their assets, in order to be able to replace them at the end of their life. In fact, the market is so competitive that even if they did, there is little likelihood that they could work beyond hand–to–mouth.

It is very difficult to measure company births and deaths in the market at this level; we have to rely on what we are hearing. However, for larger companies, we are able to measure what is happening as we are able to use government statistics. And here, again perhaps surprisingly, there is a very different story. Company failures are at a five year low, after reaching a peak back in 2008. So why the difference between what is happening at the top and bottom end of the market?

No evidence of link between fuel and company failures

Now you might expect the rising cost of fuel to be a major causal factor in company failures. The rising cost of fuel is one of the biggest political issues which transport operators and governments face. In the UK, it was the reason for a wave of fuel strikes in the early 2000s, with operators making the point that increases in the oil price through market forces and taxation were driving companies out of the market.

However, in actual fact there seems to be little evidence for this. Using official company failure statistics and a diesel pump price index, there does not seem to be a link between fuel costs and company failures.

A strong positive correlation would have been expected if indeed the price of oil was a major factor in transport company bankruptcies; that is to say an increase of diesel would be expected to result in an increase in company failures. So again, if not the cost of fuel, what does influence whether a company goes bust or not?

Company failures and interest rates

Having lived through the early 1990s recession, when interest rates spiralled to the mid–teens, and having seen the catastrophic impact that that could have on over–leveraged companies, we decided to test out any potential link between interest rates and company failures.

Of course, many road freight operators are highly leveraged, leasing road transport assets or borrowing finance to buy them outright. Hence, they are exposed to fluctuations in interest rates. Having run the figures, this resulted in strong positive correlation– suggesting that a rise in interest rates does indeed result in higher company failures. A low interest rate environment may well be one of the key reasons why company failures are around half of what they were four years ago.

Freight volumes and company failures

Rather than solely concentrate on the link between cost pressures and company failures, we also tested the relationship between fluctuating freight volumes and bankruptcies using retail sales as our proxy indicator. The logic of this was that the higher the throughput of goods through retail outlets the greater demand for freight transport throughout the entire supply chain as goods are replenished. This tested overwhelmingly positive and the conclusion of this evidence is that road freight transport company health can be directly linked to volumes.

Although the economy has been stagnant, retail sales have continued to grow, and hence freight operators have seen low levels of failure. They have coped with higher oil prices by passing these on through higher rates and a low interest rate environment has proved benign.

Conclusions

Looking forward, when economic activity picks up, we can see a scenario when interest rates may well rise to control inflationary pressures (such as created by quantitative easing). If this impacts on shoppers' spend, this could create a hostile environment for freight operators i.e. falling volumes and increasing cost of finance.

A 'catastrophic rate of failure' amongst smaller providers was not reached in the last downturn. However, this is not to say that economic conditions could not create the environment in which this meltdown could take place.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Further Information

For more information on the European road freight market or if you would like Ti to undertake bespoke research in the sector, contact Ti's Consultancy team: jray@transportintelligence.com. Alternatively, you can purchase Ti's market report, European Road Freight Transport 2012, for just £1,095 online by clicking the report title.

About the Speaker

John Manners–Bell MSc FCILT is the CEO of Transport Intelligence. John started his working life as an operations manager in a freight forwarding and road haulage company based in the UK. Prior to establishing Transport Intelligence, he worked as an analyst in consultancies specialising in international trade, transport and logistics. He also spent a number of years as European marketing manager for UPS Supply Chain Solutions working at locations across Europe including France, Netherlands and Germany.

He holds an MSc in Transport Planning and Management from University of Westminster and is an Associate of King's College London. He is a Fellow of the UK Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and a Member of the Logistics Global Advisory Council of the World Economic Forum.